Anime Addventure : Setsuna's fault
by tutcat
Summary: Stories that are from that place that have been saved. Shout out to Gelionlegends for this one (all stories up for adaption) Setsuna doing what she shouldn't
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or any other crossover characters. They are owned by there respective owners. Not out to make any money or fame on others work.

This is a collection of fic's I was able to save of a web archive that has shut down recently. Some had been edited so my text reader would work better. So original authors and extra stuff was removed from the fic .

On the ones that have not been edited I will be editing them so the original authors will get credited for their parts. Also if you have the parts that I'm missing let me know in a PM will edit them in. Same with other fic's if you have them will post for others to be able to read.

Setsuna's Fault

He Cast the Painting into the Fire and very Calmly Began Another (DARK) [Episode 166505]

by KChasm

It flickered, and she thought it was coming back up for a moment. It was that dim hope still still felt even as the first of the cracks appeared in everything, splintering outwards from the Gate like sharp tendrils.

"Oh no no no—" Sailor Pluto managed to choke out a moment before she, and the space she had existed in, were lost in the ever-widening chasm of…

Chaos. It was chaos, and it consumed cities, leaving nothing and everything behind. Most people didn't see it coming upon them from everywhere at once before they were gone. The ones that did were lucky enough to go mad before they lost.

Like flower blooming, it spread throughout the universe.

And then, everything was, simply, chaos. There was no other way to describe it, because it was true chaos, without any sort of -ness at all. It lacked shape and form. It was every shape and form. It was true and false and usually and almost never and none of the above, all at once.

But even true chaos is as difficult to maintain as true order, and after eons that weren't really eons at all but milliseconds that were eons that were leap years that were newtons, patterns began to appear.

Nothing major, at first. The same instance of chaos began to happen again and again, that was all. But it was enough, and the chaotic everything wasn't chaos anymore but only realities and not-realities, mixed together like millions of melted wax candles.

And finally, a semblance of order appeared, manifested as reality.

Realities, rather. Many, many different realities that slowly separated from each other, seeking out their rightful planes of existence.

—

Usagi had been surprised when the door to her room had flown open and that boy had come running in like the devil himself was on his tail. Well, something had been chasing him, in any case. She could tell, seeing how the boy had also taken care to shut (well, slam) the door behind it.

Really, she had been half expecting something like this. It had been a bad day all around. And she didn't even want to think about what would happen once her parents learned about her failing her latest test. She was a good person, wasn't she? She'd gone a saved that cat from those kids earlier that day, hadn't she? Where was the positive karma she was supposed to have?

And now this boy was looking around her room like his life depending on it. He turned to look at her. "Sakes alive, don't you have any religious symbols around here or something?" He half-pleaded, half-yelled. He was dressed strangely, too. Seriously, who wore fedoras and trench coats?

"Hey!" Usagi demanded back angrily. "Who do you think you are, busting in my room like this and invading my privacy?"

"Well, your front door was open, and—whaaaaat?" The boy in the coat looked taken aback, I look of shock on his face. "You've never heard of me?" Then his expression facing into a wide grin. "Then allow me to introduce myself! I am Ranma Saotome, paranormal detective!"

He raised his arm into the air, pointer finger extended, posing grandly, and it might've been impressive, even, had a floating, flaming girl not suddenly broken the door down.

—

"U…sagi?"

"Oh no oh no oh no oh no…" The small girl hurried to where the other child lay, suddenly remembering the events that had taken place just moments before. That great thing had come rushing towards her, its scythe-like arms raised to strike her down where she stood, when suddenly he had come hurtling from the side, pushing her out of its path, screaming her name. "Ranma! D - don't talk! I'll f - find a grown-up!"

But even though neither of them were even teenagers, yet, they both knew that when something ripped through your stomach and out your back like that thing had done to Ranma -

It had been a miracle that Usagi had landed where she had after he'd pushed her, right next to the weapon. She'd picked up the gun, aimed carefully (Just like poor Mr. Ryoji had shown her, joking around before the whole mess had started. Poor Mr. Ryoji. He was dead now), and fired. And the thing had melted away (just like Mr. Ryoji had said it would, too).

But there wasn't any hope left in Ranma's eyes, just calm, sad acceptance (God, she would think after she had grown older, how could someone that young have had such eyes?). "Usagi…promise me somethin'…" His voice was fading now.

"Yes?" She listened closely, barely breathing.

"Promise me…that you'll do th' right thing. Not the things yer friends want you to do because of something that's suppos'd ta be or someth…" He trailed off for a second. She could tell it hurt him to speak, but he tried his best to not show any of the pain. "Promise me!" he gasped. "Promise that - if you ever have a choice b'tween becoming Empress of Japan or savin' a million people - promise me you'll save…th' people!"

Tears were in both of their eyes, now. "I - I promise." said Usagi.

"Alrigh'" said Ranma, and he turned his head to the side and died.

—

The boy's clothes were bloody, his eyes glassy.

"Boy…" he whispered, mentally praying that Rei didn't follow him out of the shrine. "Are you alright?"

"I killed him." the boy whispered back, his voice hitching as he tried not to cry. "I killed him - I killed him and I'll be reincarnated as a slug or a worm or a termite -"

"Settle down, boy." He bent down, as to not appear so tall and frightening. "Now, who are you talking about? What did you do?"

"Pop - wanted me to be strong, so it's my fault - climbed into - I tried to get him back out, I really did, but - the cat - the cat -" The child suddenly rushed forwards, burrowing his face into the old man's shoulder, repeating the same two words again and again. "The cat! The cat! The cat!"

Setsuna's Fault: Senshi Shinobi [Episode 176079]

by The Demented Redhead

She continued to watch as reality itself … well, the reality she would belong in … began to fuse back together, history itself settling into a fixed series of events that would define this reality from the multitude of others that could and would exist.

Frankly, she didn't care … as long as Ranma's presence was dealt with.

She paused a bit, stopping from switching the Gates over to a reconnaissance mode, to ponder what she had seen. If Ranma was still there and curse her luck she just knew that that little pigtailed Casanova would be there and alive then she would be hard pressed to deal with him. The Gates needed some serious downtime, which meant that while they repaired themselves, she would be stuck in this world as well.

And the longer this world remained, the harder it would be to shift things once again if need be.

"Maybe I'll get lucky and the bastard will have been taken to be Beryl's sex toy," she muttered. Surely that chaos gigolo could tame that bitch. Why not? It wasn't like Mamoru ever ended up with a harem.

Well, there had been that one reality… But that had been Usagi's doing, wanting to spice up what she called a 'vanilla' sex life.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly reset the Gate to Reconnaissance, and set the repair functions to begin.

After all, it wasn't like anything bad would be there to see.

Now, where was Japan? Japan?

Japan…?

Japan?

Pluto's eyes opened wide, as she began to fire off a series of curse words not heard in the galaxy since the Great Fall.

The sneeze slowly stirred Usagi from her sleep. It was almost too hard to wake up. The bed was so soft, the covers so warm, the arms holding her so gentle…

Arms?

She slowly opened her eyes, seeing what had to be male arms holding her body; her … naked body.

Is this that weird dream again where I have all those yummy Mamo-chans running around?

She turned slowly. If it was a dream, then she'd enjoy it.

If it wasn't, someone was about to get some Moon Tiara Action sent up their ass for taking her purity.

The face was close to Mamoru's, but it was off, even the hair was wrong.

She was about to scream, when the man in question opened his eyes, his deep blue eyes that spoke to her of some sort of … connection to him.

"Morning, Usagi," he said, kissing her lightly on her lips, before he lay back down. "Just give me a few minutes, and I'll get up and deal with the kids today. You just worry about taking care of the little one."

She blinked at that. Kids? Okay, maybe I'm still dreaming. I mean, it was like I was dreaming with someone flipping the channels, but you'd think I'd remember having kids.

His hand traveled a bit lower on her body, stopping at her stomach … her big stomach. "That's right, Little One; Mommy's going to spend time taking care of you today."

Usagi could only blink, before she raised the covers slightly, revealing that she was in fact very pregnant. Deciding her mind was just not up to dealing with going to sleep a virgin schoolgirl and waking up married and pregnant, she decided more sleep was necessary.

Ranma looked up to see his wife's eyes were once again closed, sleeping peacefully. "Man, I know she hates not being on missions."

He smiled as he looked over her face. "I'm really lucky to find someone like you in my life."

Hell, they'd only been married for fourteen years. He was ready for thousands more.

"This is bullshit," muttered Pluto.

She had been prepared to deal with almost any reality. Hell, she'd settle for a reality where Ranma was some three-eyed demon king.

But reality had been rewritten; even the Earth itself was changed. Land masses were shifted, geography altered.

"Neo-Queen Serenity is not supposed to be married to him, with children!î she screamed. ìAnd she certainly isn't supposed to be a [chain of expletives deleted by Universal Censors] ninja!"

Senshi Shinobi: Backstory Part 1 [Episode 185149]

by The Demented Redhead

When Usagi awoke, she could only stand up, looking at her bulging stomach.

"I'm a mother," she said, caressing the bulge.

"Indeed."

She turned, seeing Sailor Pluto before her. "Setsuna, what's going on?" she asked, forgetting to refer to the Senshi of Time by her Sailor Title.

"A very … very bad thing, something that I cannot fix for at least a month," Pluto said mournfully.

"Explain," said Usagi, her face seeming to take on the Princess Serenity look.

"I was trying to correct a … anomaly in the space-time continuum that threatened Senshi interest," she said. "But the anomaly refused to disappear, further twisting itself into the Senshi business."

"An anomaly?" Usagi asked.

Pluto nodded, trying to word her responses to give no clue that the anomaly was really the person currently married to the Princess. "However, my efforts overtaxed the Gates, and thus reality reset itself into … this."

"Are the others okay?" asked Usagi.

Pluto nodded. "They all exist here, and like you, they may recall their old lives. However, as time goes forward, the lives they would have led in this timeline will seep into their brains. I'm afraid that before I can even correct this, you all will recall the full lives of your counterparts in this universe."

Usagi slowly nodded, still rubbing her distended belly. "What are we like here?" she asked.

Pluto sighed. "We are currently in a place called Konoha, a ninja village."

"Ninja?" asked Usagi.

Pluto nodded. "We each exist here, but come from similar families. For example, Hotaru lives here with her father, but they adopted a younger boy who was orphaned during a demon-invasion some twelve years ago."

"Demons?" asked Usagi, eyes wide.

"A demon fox," said Pluto. "The village was able to seal it inside a boy, which you adopted. The you of this universe did not have the Ginzuishou, so they could not negate the demon. The Fourth Hokage, a leader of the village at the time, sacrificed his life to do so. Since he was friends both with your husband here, and you, you both chose to adopt the boy, and ensure the village did not treat him as the demon itself."

Usagi slowly nodded. "Can I purify him?"

"No, the Ginzuishou cannot be called here," said Pluto. "However, your husband has been teaching the child to wield the power, without falling to the influence."

"Huh?"

Pluto sighed. Sometimes, Usagi was still Usagi. "He's teaching the child to wield Black Moon energy without being evil.î

"Oh," said Usagi nodding. "But wait, if I'm married to this guy, what happened to Mamoru."

Pluto sighed. "He is married to one of my sisters."

"You have sisters?" asked Usagi, astonished.

"In this world I do. Like I said, the reset changed a lot of things. Do you know Beryl exists here, but as a good guy?"

"What?" asked Usagi.

"She married Mamoru shortly after you married Ranma," Pluto said, cringing at mentioning the name of the chaos that she had tried to remove, pointing to a picture on the wall.

Usagi walked over to it, spying Mamoru and Beryl in the photo, wearing wedding attire, with the man she woke up to and herself standing to the side. "How?'

"Ranma and you were engaged to be married when you were younger, the same with Beryl and Mamoru," Pluto said sadly. "She is not the Beryl you remember, but the Beryl long before Metallia turned her. If she has any memories from our world, she would recall them as nightmares."

Usagi slowly nodded, part of her saddened that her love had been replaced, and that his had been replaced with an enemy from long ago. "Children?" Usagi asked, spying several other photos of herself and her new husband with several other kids, including Chibi-Usa.

"Many of the Senshi have children here," said Pluto, deciding not to tell Usagi that Beryl was Setsuna's half-sister here. "Our ages also seem to be varied, so we are not all of the same age group. From what I have learned, Hotaru has your husband as a teacher."

Usagi could only blink, spying a photo of her new husband with two Outers, and children among them. "Michiru and Haruka have children?"

"They are still together," said Pluto. "But they sort of … asked your permission to use your current husband as a sperm donor for children."

Usagi could only blink. "What?"

"Your husband, with your permission, donated the needed … stuff … so that both could have children," added Pluto, trying to not upset the Princess. "They each have one boy, Michiru has a young girl, and Haruka is expecting twin girls."

Usagi slowly nodded, before making her way to her bed, and proceeding to lie down.

"I think I may have overdid it," Pluto sighed, as Usagi proceeded to pass out.

Senshi Shinobi: Enter the Teams [Episode 189061]

by Kestral

Iruka looked over the class, feeling the mix of emotions that were expected of a teacher whose class had done well. Some of them would actually make it through their jonin's test to fully make genin. Some would end up in the remedial program. Some would wash out, turn their backs on the ninja profession and get jobs where a kunai in the back was not considered a normal work-comp injury.

"Team Haruka. Tobio. Rikuro. Nobitsu."

Iruka Umino tuned out the dismay from the three boys. Haruka had a bit of a reputation as a hard case who hated the male gender. Which Iruka knew wasn't completely true, Haruka mainly had problems with specific members of the male gender. Haruka used that reputation for her own purposes though, so he certainly wasn't going to give any comfort to that team.

"Team Michiru," continued Iruka. "Natsumi. Faisal. Itsumo."

Murmurs from those three as they tried to figure out what this all meant. Michiru's artistic skills were well known within the village, as well as her relationship with Haruka. As Faisal was a Fuuinjutsu specialist, Natsumi was into genjutsu with her focus as a flute-player, and Itsumo was a ninjutsu specialist with a strong water affinity - it was an odd enough grouping.

"Team Misato," continued Iruka. "Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley, Shinji Ikari."

"How the heck did HE pass?!" demanded Asuka.

"How troublesome," quietly said Rei into the silence after that outburst.

"What, you want a piece of me, Wonder bread?!" demanded Asuka.

"Quiet, all of you!" said Iruka. Oh yeah. There was pride in his class mostly graduating, and a certain degree of wistful loss of the familiar faces, and a certain satisfaction in knowing that some of them were NOT going to be loud and annoying around HIM anymore.

"Team Roy," continued Iruka after Asuka sat back down. "Eric, Alphonse, Winry."

The two brothers high-fived each other while Winry just smiled. Actually, if Iruka had anyone to bet - he'd bet all three of them passed.

"Team Kurenai. Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno."

A disappointed sound from Sakura and an acknowledging yap from Akamaru were the only replies on that.

"Team Kakashi. Sasuke Uchiha, Akane Tendo, Shampoo."

"I am in hell."

"No worry, Sasuke. We get rid of pervert girl, be happy."

"Who are you calling pervert?! How did YOU pass with that speech impediment?!"

"Yup, hell."

"Don't worry Sasuke! I'll save you." "Don't worry Sasuke! I'll save you."

"Don't copy me!" "Don't copy me!"

BONK! BONK!

"Ooh, double chalk throw no jutsu!" said Naruto. He'd never seen it before, at least when it hadn't been directed at him.

Iruka dusted his hands off before continuing.

"Team Ranma. Naruto Uzumaki-"

Senshi Shinobi: Rei-blue [Episode 242198]

by Kestral

There were, in fact, SIX Rei Ayanami.

"Heee-eyyy."

They ranged in personality from a sort of Yamato Nadeshiko type to… well, HER.

Rei-blue, more commonly referred to as THAT Rei or Ree. Possibly the most dangerous ninja in the village. Certainly the most dangerous of her class. She was strong, fast, creative, had a temper that ran cold and playful. Which was a combination that had hardened shinobi looking a little nervous in her presence.

It was a law of Konohagakure. Not one handed down by a Council or Advisor or Hokage, but it was a law everyone in the village knew.

Do NOT piss off any of the Rei, but especially don't piss off THAT one. Not a good idea, not something you want to experience, tantamount to a Darwin Award (though as they didn't have a Darwin they used the name Kawamusa who'd come up with much the same thing) being handed out. (In fact, once Rei-blue had heard about this, she had gone to Rei-white and gotten her to make several brass trophies featuring a monkey contemplating a human skull with the base proclaiming it to be a Darwin (Kawamusa) Award. She would cheerfully present these to the person who'd just pissed her off and then take her sweet time setting up a messy end for the individual in question. Unless she were stopped somewhere along the way and suitable apologies from the offending party were given.)

All the Rei had special abilities, which was considered an unstable bloodline.

1) Rei-white was a Yamato Nadeshiko sort. Calm, intelligent, loyal, friendly, and skilled at all sorts of arts and crafts as well as traditional feminine undertakings.

2) Rei-blue was, as mentioned, a bit of a sociopath waiting to happen. She was mainly controlled/leashed by the Hokage (whom she respected) and her sisters (whom she loved in her own fashion). She was also the most powerful of the Rei when it came to being able to deal out massive amounts of damage. One of her favorite skills was changing her fingers to clawed appendages that her strength was quite capable of putting through various objects.

3) Rei-green dyed her hair the color of fresh evergreen. She was otherwise a scholarly type, and wore a pair of glasses which did absolutely nothing other than further differentiated her from the other Rei. Fuuinjutsu expert.

4) Rei-red wore her hair long and in a pigtail. Fire magic was her talent and she was fond of archery. Not much for silent though, the most "chatty" of any of the Rei Ayanami.

5) Rei-black didn't dye her hair, having the same hairstyle and coloration as the Rei who didn't bother with such things. However, she was as silent as Rei-red was a chatterbox. Rei-black had seen Kakashi Hatake with his mask and had immediately gotten one herself. She was into stealth. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for people to not notice she was even in the room for some time. Which had pleased her teachers and spooked her classmates.

6) The final Rei Ayanami was known alternatively as Rei-prime (as she was the first-born), Rei-silver as her hair was less blue or white as silvery-gray. Some called her Valkyrie after her choice of spear as her primary weapon.

None of which helped Naruto as he'd gotten Rei-blue on his team.

"Uhm, hi," said Naruto. Sure, he pranked people. Particularly people who shunned him or were abusive towards him. Rei-blue on the other hand, had a cruel streak he lacked.

"Nervous?" asked Rei, cocking her head in a manner that suggested a bird somehow.

"Well, a bit," admitted Naruto. "Even if I know our sensei, this is a big step."

"Ye-ahhh," said Rei, looking over Naruto. "People hate you, fear you, ignore you."

"Yeah, I know. Not everyone though, and I don't know WHY they hate me," griped Naruto.

Rei nodded at that and settled back. Eventually the third member of their team finished up and joined them in waiting for their sensei.


	2. BC

Setsuna's Fault: Dawn of Time? [Episode 40259]

by Kestral

"Okay, let me see if I got this straight. You were doing something with time. I found the Nanban Mirror repaired and tried to go back and alter a little problem that'd just cropped up. Except that the Nanban exploded and we all ended up here. Am I with ya so far?"

Setsuna looked at the little stub of Time Key Staff she had left and nodded.

"We ended up connected to pigtail boy here," said Haruka, jerking her thumb at said boy, "in some mysterious manner you're keeping quiet on and because you were trying something complicated at the Gate Of Time - we're somewhere in the past."

Setsuna nodded again.

"Okayyyyy," said Usagi, finding a nice rock to sit on. "This sounds like it may take awhile. How do we get back?"

"I'm not sure we can," said Setsuna.

"Excuse me?" said most of the Senshi.

"Your Time Key Staff is broken, therefore you don't currently have access to the Gates," guessed Ami.

Setsuna nodded. "Only a very minor connection, enough to give me a general location."

"This gets better and better," drily commented Michiru. "So where are we?"

"A followup question, and potentially more important, would be when are we," added Ami.

Setsuna took a deep breath before answering, also estimating escape routes and how fast she could run until everyone calmed down. She really didn't think they'd like this.

Setsuna's Fault: Species Start [Episode 133955]

by Kender

"It is really quite simple. We are in what will become Ethiopia," Setsuna told the group in front of her, "And the year is approximately 200,000 BC."

"WHAT?!" came from everyone else.

Rei looked over at the tanned woman. "Are you telling us that we're in the distant past?"

"If you go by the ages of man... Then yes, that is correct," the Time Senshi replied.

"And that means that..?"

"We are in deep trouble..," Ami moaned.

"I can see that. I mean, how civilized can it be around here?"

"That's just it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Makoto asked.

The cram school ace let her shoulders slum as she looked at her friends and the boy who'd helped to bring them there. "This is the dawn of modern man."

"It doesn't look very modern," Haruka quipped.

"And it won't, for a very long time. The first humans as we know them are supposed to come into existence right about now."

"Are you saying..."

"Cavemen," Michiru whispered, "She's talking about cavemen. We are at the time when the first human beings walked the Earth..."

Setsuna gave them all a nod. "Exactly. And this is where they are supposed to originate from."

"That isn't really good, is it?" Hotaru murmured, "It doesn't sound good..."

"It's not. And not only in the fact that we're stuck in a time when we can seriously affect the timeline."

"We can?"

"Imagine if we were to hurt an insect. It wouldn't be able to fly to bother the saber-toothed tiger that was going to eat our earliest ancestor. Then he'd be in for a bad day, and we'd be in deep trouble."

"Of course, there's always the possibility that we could..," Ami began, but trailed off as she looked over her friends and the martial artist.

"You think so?"

"It's possible..."

"True..."

"You mind letting us in on the secret," Haruka scoffed.

"Trust me, you're better off not knowing."

"What?"

"Exactly," Setsuna replied while:

Setsuna's Fault: Home away from home [Episode 134034]

by Whitewings

Ami looked at the others, her gaze pensive. "We're not in too bad a situation, you know. Ranma's the most powerful purely human fighter of our time," at which comment he puffed up with (justified) pride, "and Makoto's pretty capable even as a normal girl. Actually, that's true for all of us in one way or another, now that I think about it. So... it's going to be night fairly soon, we'll need to build a shelter. Ranma, where would you suggest?"

Ranma looked around, and pointed to a nearby hill, "Right there. Gives us the best view around, we can slap somethin' together for th' night an' find a really good place tomorrow. Setsuna, any of you got any survival trainin'? We're gonna need food, so if I c'n get some help that way... "

Setsuna sighed heavily, "No. We're all city kids," and watched as Ranma just sighed "Right," then turned and left. No, social niceties weren't his strong suit.

As the sun was going down, Ranma returned, carrying a load of berries, nuts, and fruits in his shirt, now an improvised carry bag. The shelter was small, but it looked pretty good, kind of like a stone igloo. It seemed like Ami'd drawn some rough plans in the dirt, then they'd all gone out and put the stones together. Maybe Rei'd welded them together? Well, they had a fire going inside anyway. That would keep animals off, he hoped.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: 200,000 BC and counting [Episode 134047]

by Kestral

Berries, nuts, a few fruit, and a couple of rabbits were dinner.

Usagi was pretty hard hit by this, somehow having grown up with the notion that food simply materialized at the grocery store. The idea of cute little bunny rabbits actually being part of the meal had curbed her appetite.

None of the girls were really used to roughing it. They had the clothes they were wearing, no weapons or equipment, and the only way they could manage anything else was using their Senshi abilities.

Of course, the Senshi abilities did add a survival factor the girls might otherwise have lacked. Rubbing sticks together to make fire wasn't necessary with Sailor Mars around.

A discovery was made fairly quickly too when Sailor Venus drank the water in the sluggishly moving river. It didn't taste good and certain problems developed within a few hours of her thirst quenching, starting with a grumbling sound from her midsection.

When it rained that night, the large "igloo" offered some protection from the elements but another factor quickly made its appearance. That being that while Ami had thought ahead enough to provide a flooring, that Rei hadn't fused one section as well as she should have.

Which further had the girls and Ranma in a tight area.

Huddled together for body warmth and to keep dry, certain things became obvious to Ranma during the night. Normally, it required quite a lot to wake him up, but somehow being "spooned" from behind by Makoto and likewise pressed into from the front by Ami... it was nicely warm but he was waiting for someone to wake up and begin pounding him at any moment.

It was when one of the two girls making a Ranma sandwich squirmed a little that he began having all sorts of odd feelings about the situation.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Taking A Moment [Episode 135365]

by Kender

When morning would come to shine over the scenery outside of a city, it was always more tangible. It wasn't that the city didn't have an immediate reaction to the change in hours, but there was a major connection to the shift that nature could only have. And that didn't change even at 200,000 BC.

Ranma Saotome both loved and hated that fact as he saw the light creeping in to the 'igloo' that they were staying in. He had definitely experienced a lot of camping out, and knew how to handle it. But he had never had to work with something like this.

Ami was cuddled up to his front, with her fingers holding on to his shirt. What wasn't in her hands was being brushed by her own shirt, and the proof that she wasn't flat chested. On his other side, Makoto had one arm laying over his waist, and her breasts pillowed against his back. Both girls had their legs rubbing and tangled with his, and he certainly knew that he was in a precarious position.

Of that, Setsuna was sure. Being a natural morning person herself, she had awakened earlier than some of the others, and she was finding herself smiling at the entertaining view. He was unable to move for fear of waking them, but he was also clearly uncomfortable mentally with his position. The bunching of his hands told her that, as he seemed to be actively trying to keep his hands to himself, though she didn't blame him, what with where his hands tended to go when he didn't do that.

Not that she had any idea, or real desire to help him. They wouldn't hurt the pigtailed boy, and if anything, they'd be feeling rather embarrassed about what they'd done. Fortunately, they wouldn't blame him, and possibly could even feel anxious over the fact that they'd been rather forward with the cute boy.

However, that would not be a real problem, and she slipped out from the 'igloo' to stand outside, facing the rising son. It was a beautiful sight, with the colors completely unaltered by things like pollution or electric lights. For all the elegant behavior she liked to wrap herself in, such a natural show was still something that she enjoyed. Just seeing it made her sigh happily, and she managed to let her shoulders relax.

"You seem cheerful," commented a feminine voice as Rei stepped up next to her.

The Senshi of Time's raised brow was clear even though she didn't look at the younger girl. "Any reason why I should not be?"

"Well, we are stuck in the age of cavemen and giant cats. I'd have thought that you'd be all concerned about getting us back home."

"That is true, but since I can't do anything about it, I figure that I'd might as well go with the flow for now."

"You're not going to try and even get something to at least lessen the problem."

"The best way to make absolutely sure that none of us got involved in possible alterations in the timeline would be to kill all of you and commit suicide so that no one could do anything," the tanned woman replied, "And even then our bodies would still be there to interact with the environment in some way."

"Ugh..."

"Exactly. It's not an option, so..."

"We have to do what we can," the raven haired girl sighed.

"Think of it this way. You'll be with your friends, and between us and Mister Saotome, we should be able to create something of a life here."

"There aren't any sort of vanished civilizations for us to find?"

"Imagine how long it takes even one person to walk just to school. Then add in the time it would take to domesticate anything so it could do the walking. It could take decades before we found anything," Setsuna mentioned off handedly.

"So it's not an option."

"It's a possibility. Don't you at least enjoy your friends' company."

"Sure I do!"

"Then perhaps it's Ranma you're concerned about. Or rather, the attention they're showing to him."

Color played across Rei's features. "It's not that. I was just trying to consider everything."

"Maybe even what a young shrine maiden could do with a nicely muscled martial artist?"

"I... I... I... don't know how you can ask such a thing?!"

"Hmm? Just an idle thought. Though Ami and Makoto seem to be really enjoying having him here."

"They're sleeping!"

"I know," Setsuna drawled, allowing amusement to tinge her words. "Imagine what it'll be like when they wake up."

"They... It'll be a bit..."

"Exactly."

"I see..."

Setsuna hoped that she did, as she was enjoying Ranma's situation a lot, but didn't want anyone to think that she was going to be malicious about it. This was just too much fun, and she did know that this was going to be resulting in some choice material. Being the lonely guardian of the Gate was one thing, but now that she was lost in time, there wasn't much she could do with that responsibility. So, the knowledge of what would likely happen when Ami and Makoto would wake up was on her mind, since the initial reaction would mean more for later teasing. They likely would be reacting rather quickly, especially since they probably had already identified him as someone they found attractive, and she could understand that.

She certainly had noticed his lithely built form herself as they slept, and knew how she'd react in their places.

Right then though, she was going to wait and relax with her mysterious smile on her face while:

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Survival [Episode 135513]

by Kestral

The weather was just beginning to alter. The Himalayas were growing to the height that weather patterns worldwide would alter. Eventually the lush forests with scattered grasslands would give way entirely to grasslands and the fertile plains to the far North would become the Sahara desert.

"So where do we go?" asked Michiru. Of all of them, she was having the worst time of it. She was 100% City Girl and used to having the best of things and modern amenities. Just not having toilet paper was a major problem for her.

"In this era, there are Neanderthal and possibly some other distant cousins of mankind," said Ami, beginning to look a little worse for the wear herself. "I remember reading about them co-existing with humanity."

"Humanity killed them off," said Haruka, having read that.

"Actually the archaeological evidence in recent years indicates more that they intermarried, though likely the more different branches produced infertile offspring," said Ami, remembering the article.

"Mules," said Setsuna. "The genetic lines were similar enough for offspring, different enough not to be able to continue on after a generation."

"Well, that's the operating theory at least," admitted Ami. "Though they may have simply been absorbed due to the modern human's ability to thrive in a variety of environments."

"Oh," said Haruka. "Actually that explains a few people I've competed against. They're throwbacks."

"Whatever, so what we gonna do?" asked Ranma. "Ya say we gotta go somewhere where we ain't gonna endanger anyone. So where would that be?"

"I'd say we've got another problem first," said Rei, staring out at the grasslands across the sluggish river. "I got the feeling we were being watched, and it looks like I was right."

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Making New Acquaintances [Episode 151276]

by Kender

What was in front of them was clearly not a threat. There were dead bodies nearby, and plenty of information that it had not been a nice situation. Each of the humans had shown some sort of sign of being troubled over the sight, and even if the beings that had been sent on to their next life were carnivores, that was no reason to shrug off any sympathy for the creatures. But there was a ray of sunshine in all this.

"Cuuuute," said Usagi, gushed over the wolf puppies that she found after hearing a whimper amongst some tall plants.

Minako nodded, picking one up to hold it up in the air. "They're so darling!"

"I know, I know!"

"Looks like they're all alone..."

"Poor little guys..." the reincarnated princess murmured, hugging a cub to her chest, and giggling as it licked her face. "Can we keep them? Please?"

Ami gave a guilty frown. "You know, that might be..."

"Perfectly fine," Ranma put in as he knelt by the fallen wolves.

"Just... huh?"

"These guys are all alone, and we need company, which is great. But they also can do plenty of other stuff. I've seen dogs that've managed ta do plenty of jobs, and these guys can do the same. Once they get older, I'm sure that they can be a big help. 'Sides, they'd die if we left 'em behind."

"How do you think it happened?" Rei asked quietly.

"By the tracks, whatever it was had ta be really big. My guess is that somethin' accidentally wandered over here, maybe a couple of 'em, and the adults tried to defend their babies. They weren't ready, the other animal was probably panicking, and this happened."

Haruka pressed her lips together. "Not that things are all that nice even when things are okay."

"Exactly. But I'm pretty sure that this ain't a good place ta leave 'em. 'Specially now."

"Why not?"

"Because of those guys," he said, jerking his thumb at something that was off to his side.

The girls turned and saw a group of familiarly shaped figures moving nearby. Each of them stared and blinked at the sight of these individuals, and they knew what this meant to them.

"Oh my goodness gracious," said Ami as she saw the primitively clad figures.

Setsuna raised a brow. "Apparently the natives have come out to meet us."

"That'd mean that they'd have to know that we were here. They might have accidentally come," Makoto commented.

"All too true. Unfortunately, I don't speak early human."

"Maybe we can figure out things by how they act," Michiru suggested.

Rei smirked at her words. "Well, we can tell that one of them is an idiot. Look at how that tall one is acting."

"Kuno," Ranma said simply, as he straightened up.

"Huh?"

"That one looks a lot like a guy that I know from my high school. He's an idiot there too. Yup, and he's tryin' ta act like he's the top guy, even though no one else thinks he is."

"Hey, and that one girl looks like Ami," Minako teased, holding 'her' wolf cub against her shoulder. "Only need to change the eyes."

"'Xcept that she looks like Akane."

"Someone else that you know?"

"Girl back home. And... yes, she's just as violent."

"It could be the times," Haruka commented. "Though... I think that I've seen one of those guys at one of my races before."

"Reincarnation," the Senshi of Time told them.

"What?"

"Well, when a person dies, his or her spirit goes on to their next life, whatever that might be. And in this case, it looks like these are probably one of the first lives that they have had, at least as some sort of humans."

"Trust me, some never get past this stage."

The pigtailed boy nodded. "Looking at this, I can tell that if these are their past lives, then that moron really has been botherin' her all the time."

"Then the question is what do we do now?" Makoto asked, stating the obvious, and knowing that it had to be done, while:

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Not Exactly A Promising Beginning [Episode 151321]

by Kestral

They weren't Japanese. They weren't exactly what you'd consider "well groomed" by any stretch of the imagination. They were pretty filthy and hairier than might be expected. They certainly weren't well dressed.

That didn't mean they were so primitive that they hadn't grasped the using of tools. The one dubbed "Kuno" had a long tree-branch gripped firmly in one hand. The one dubbed "Akane" had a somewhat smaller one.

The gang was all here. Tribes were not necessarily happy groups though when they met other tribes in their territory, especially when one group had just stolen food.

Beating his chest and yelling at the heavens, "Kuno" gave a lot of noises that might have been a primitive language before he led the charge at the invaders.

Calling what followed a fight would have been overstating it.

"FIRE SOUL!" FWOOM!

"EEEK!" declared the tribe as one of the invaders threw fire and ignited the grass halfway between the two groups. The headlong charge stumbled to a halt.

"Now they're deciding if they're really going to attack us or not," observed Ranma.

"I didn't know you spoke 'primitive'," observed Setsuna.

"Don't," admitted Ranma. "I'm reading body language."

"True. The 'Kuno' there wants to attack," said Setsuna. "He likely wants the puppies for dinner, and to mate with certain females of our group in order to induct them into his tribe."

"That one gal doesn't appear happy with him," said Minako as 'Akane' turned on 'Kuno' and bared teeth at him, making a few threatening gestures with her own club.

"GRARH!" declared 'Kuno' as he charged. He'd simply get the fire-bearer in his own tribe and thereby strengthen it.

Ranma blurred, blocked, kicked. The club flew off in one direction, the nearly-naked guy in another.

The tribe made all sorts of odd noises at this development, apparently trying to figure out what exactly this meant.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Tribal Politics [Episode 154066]

by Kender

The one dubbed 'Kuno' pulled himself off the ground, and growled angrily at Ranma, but he didn't try to do anything to him. It was obvious that he was still stinging from what had happened, and he wasn't about to be able to launch another attack. But he could manage to give off a series of grunts and arm waves to his tribe that clearly told them to come over to him.

They didn't listen.

Instead, 'Akane' moved forward, and headed over to Ranma, looking rather cautious as she did so. There were a lot of stops and restarts as she went, but she slowly managed to shorten the difference between the two of them. Once she got next to him, she started sniffing him, moving around his body as if she were afraid that he would suddenly lash out. But as it became obviously clear to her that he wasn't about to hurt her, she moved in closer, with her head and shoulders bent.

"What?" he asked, blinking in surprise as he put a hand out to her. "What is it?"

Her expression of fear turned to one of respect, and she waved over at her tribe, making noises that sounded important.

'Kuno' seemed displeased by this, and moved forward, with his voice shrill as he made his feelings known.

But she was having none of it, and swung her club out in a horizontal arc at him. When she did that, the others in the tribe moved over and headed to come close to the time travellers, with a clear attempt to keep near where the pigtailed boy was standing.

"What's going on?" Minako asked, clearly confused.

Michiru raised her brow. "It looks like she threw that caveman over for the single guy in our group."

"Hold on a sec... Ya mean ta say that she's... coming to me?"

"It's like when a couple breaks up, and one of the pair has gotten a new partner."

"That's pretty close, actually. Remember, a lot of what they do is still animal like," Setsuna put in. "More than likely, that male was their 'Alpha Male'."

"'Alpha Male'?" Hotaru parroted.

"Basically their leader, and head male. In such groups, that would be the one who got the choice parts of whatever came up. Food, water, shelter, attention... females..."

"That's just caveman behavior," Haruka scoffed.

"Haruka? They are cavemen," Ami corrected the shorthaired blonde, sounding like a schoolteacher who was wondering why her student hadn't known something simple.

"Oh. Right..."

"Still, that leaves us with a bunch of cavemen who are going to look to Ranma as their leader," Mars observed.

"Among other things," the Senshi of Time added.

"Hm?"

"They have a mating style that means that we may spend a lot of time covering Hotaru's eyes."

"That easy?"

"And they don't exactly have 'modesty' around here."

"I know something that they don't have here either," Usagi commented, delicately wrinkling her nose at the smell wafting up from one of their new associates.

"What?"

"Soap. They need a bath."

"Well, they likely haven't had a chance to bathe. Lots of animals, and no doing it in the past."

The reincarnated princess shrugged. "Then maybe we can teach them."

"That might be for the best," Michiru agreed.

"True enough," Mars put in. "Much as I know that Usagi's plan will cause problems, it'll probably be for the best."

"Then let's take them to get cleaned up," Usagi replied as she guided one of the natives towards their camp.

Doing so signalled acceptance to the natives, and they slowly started to go to be with the time travelers.

For 'Kuno', this was not acceptable, hooting derisively and jumped up and down in a show of anger. He was not happy by any means, and he tried hard to display his authority. Even thumping his chest wasn't enough for him, and he screamed at each of them.

The tribe that he had led merely filtered into combine with their new leader's, and didn't look back, while:

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Akane - 200,000 BC version [Episode 154090]

by Kestral

Her name wasn't Akane, of course.

The Tribe was down to two-hands-and-two-fingers members now. Since the shift in the weather and the big cat had driven them from the cleft, the Tribe had been in steady decline.

Big Stick had been their leader since defeating and killing One-Eye, the old leader. Big Stick ate One-Eye's parts to signify the transfer of leadership and so that One-Eye could advise Big Stick as a spirit.

Her name wasn't Akane, it was Small Club. She wasn't good at many of the woman-duties, so she helped hunt. Since losing their home in the cleft, all of them were more-or-less hunters.

She was hunting when they heard the yips and cries of cubs, and the smell of fresh blood drew them.

Unprotected cubs. They would feast well, Small Club knew. Though small and with not much meat - the Tribe was starving as they wandered and looked for food and a new place where the Tribe might flourish.

That was when Little Pecker found the Strange Cave.

The Tribe had gathered to observe the Strange Cave when Others came out. Shaped like people, but not people. Maybe like Hairy People except not covered in hair.

Small Club snarled at Big Stick's little stick getting hard when he looked at these Others' women.

There was a male among the other Tribe and Small Club hissed. Taller and looking stronger than Big Stick, wrapped in strange hides like the Other Tribe's women, but clearly a hunter. Small as her sound had been, the male had obviously heard and was looking around.

The Tribe went still and hidden, something they'd had to master long long ago. Those who did not learn this did not live long far from the cleft.

The male seemed to look directly at her briefly, and Small Club felt her heart pounding away in her chest. Those eyes. Like fragments of sky.

The male's eyes flicked away again, as if he had dismissed the threat of the Tribe. Small Club felt the heat from Big Stick and knew that that dismissal had angered the Tribe's leader.

The Other Tribe moved towards the sounds and found that two howlers were dead, and it was from Scar-face. The old big-cat was sick and lashing out, killing things it ran across but Scar-face couldn't eat all it killed. The Tribe had fled from it more than once.

The Others were taking the food. Big Stick challenged them for right to the food.

Small Club and the Tribe watched, hiding put aside, as one of the Others' women made flame!

Big Stick declared he would kill the leader, take the Others women, and breed them. Their Tribe would be made strong again and they would have fire!

That didn't last long. Other Male moved like a stripe-cat, fast as tear-eyed-cat, and struck like thorn-face. Big Stick lost his stick and fell hard.

Big Stick tried to gather the Tribe. "(We go now. Come back later. Kill Tricky One, eat him, get strong like Tricky One. Take women. Make Tribe strong!)"

Small Club spoke up. "(Big Stick not so big. Many Tribe die since leave home. Big Stick challenge male with sky eyes. Big Stick lose like little child. Sky Eyes not think Big Stick worth eating.)"

Small Club came over. As Alpha Female of hunting party. This was a risk, of course. Maybe Others were not another tribe but something else that only looked vaguely like people. Maybe they would kill her. Yet she could see they were well fed, and her own belly was rumbling.

She finally reached him, signalling submission as best she could, and then sniffed Sky Eyes all over. If he ate people of Tribe, she could smell it maybe? There was no sick-smell.

Sky Eyes said something in that strange way the Others had been doing. Making very complicated sounds in a pattern, unlike her own Tribe's language of growls and grunts and body language.

He touched her then, accepting her into his Tribe. He did not touch her in such a way that indicated he would mate with her, but on the shoulder - accepting her as hunter.

"(It's okay,)" indicated Small Club to her former Tribe's members. "(We join this Tribe. They eat well. We more safe.)"

"(NO!)" declared Big Stick. "(I leader. I say we go now. Come back, kill male, take women.)"

"(Idiot!)" said Small Club, getting between Sky Eyes and Big Stick and waving her own club at her former leader. "(This Tribe do well. This Tribe well fed. This Tribe be strong. You idiot, we no follow!)"

"(I leader! I say what Tribe do!)" said Big Stick.

"(You leader Tribe-of-One!)" said Small Club as the others came to surround Sky Eyes. "(We join this Tribe!)"

"(Small Club right,)" said Grass-Weaver. "(You bad leader. Other Tribe know many thing we not. We join this Tribe, learn do. We gets stronger.)"

"(I be back. I fight kill Tricky Male.)" Big Stick thumped his club onto the ground before turning and scurrying off with a limp.

"(I think Sky Eyes bigger stick under hide than Big Stick has,)" guessed Rockthrower, sniffing the male in question.

Small Club made a humorous noise as Sky Eyes backed away from Copperhair sniffing his crotch. "(Sky Eye already have many women. You have prove worth to Sky Eye for he mate you.)"

"(Might be so,)" agreed Grass-weaver.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Beast Of A Problem [Episode 156224]

by Kender

It was not something that was immediately noticeable, but there was a definite turn in the air. One could almost feel a shadow pass over the entire area, complete with a chill that robbed a body of its warmth. There was a stillness in the air that was almost like what came right before a large and powerful storm.

That was when the growl was heard.

Small Club knew what that sound meant, and she barely had the opportunity to turn to confirm her thoughts before the source of the noise leapt towards Little Pecker. Fortunately, the tall female with the hair the color of tall grasses dashed forward and was able to get the tribe member and herself out of the way.

But it didn't change the fact that Scar-face was there, and was weaving around, looking for something to attack.

Knowing the dangers, the tribe bolted for more protective spots, making screeches of distress as they did so. With such a beast, it was not a good idea to wait, as it had already proven to be deadly. Their actions warned the strange females, who also backed up, and started talking in that odd language of theirs. By what she could tell, the ones with the short blue hair and the darker skinned one were the smarter ones, and they seemed to be thinking of something. However Small Club knew that action was called for, and she grabbed the arm of the violet eyed one, dragging her to safety as a large paw swatted through the air where the other female had just been.

That left Sky Eyes unprotected though, and Scar-Face seemed to recognize that. She saw the old cat's interest grow as he made the male back himself into a corner. The fear that Sky Eyes was showing was a bit disappointing, but it was understandable. He might have been very strong against Big Stick, but this beast was not to be played with. Convincing herself that she had to help him was easy, but getting into a spot to do something without immediately getting killed was another thing. She managed it though, and raised her arm to throw a big rock that she had collected.

And then Sky Eyes yowled.

Hearing that sound was a shock, and everyone else turned to see what exactly was going on. There was the male who had beaten Big Stick, on all fours, looking much like the cat would himself. Scar-Face, who had been already trying to kill the male before, redoubled his efforts, and charged forward with his mouth wide open, ready to rip chunks of flesh of the two footed creature.

Not that he actually connected, as Sky Eyes had already dodged out of the way, and sent out a swat of his own. But this one didn't need actual contact, as it somehow managed to sent the old cat tumbling away. That wasn't enough to stop it though, as Scar-Face wasn't in the sort of mind where he could quit. Instead, he tried to snap and claw at his foe, who kept on moving deftly out of the way. It was like watching to beasts circle each other. They were strong, fast, and powerful, and neither one was about to back down.

When Scar-face attacked the one with the yellow hair in the funny arrangement in a moment of distraction, Sky Eyes pounced. The cat's unprotected flank was hit by several of those hurt-without-hit attacks, leaving long gashes and the sound of broken bones as the combined strikes sent the beast tumbling away. Then, almost as if he could easily recognize the problem with leaving such a threat around without having to think about it. He leapt forward, and in what was a rather nasty attack, laid into the beast with a great deal of force. It was impossible to tell if it was the blood loss from the slices, the shattered bones, or the brutality of it all that finally finished it. What she did know was that, much as it was scary, she couldn't ignore this beating, not that she actually had any trouble with it. She just couldn't ignore the fact that he was acting like he had the spirit of a cat. There was never a need to get close, but with the manner in which the blood was pulled from the body, it was clear that he didn't need to ever get within claw reach.

With a loud snapping sound, Scar-Face's neck moved to an odd angle, and his body went totally limp. It took a few moments for it to be obvious as to what had happened, but soon even Sky Eyes had managed to see his opponent's condition. For a moment, only disbelief was available to be felt, but soon enough, those there started to let themselves get to relax. In fact, the tall one with eyes the shade of fresh leaves moved towards the body, almost in need to see the truth confirmed.

Coming off of the rush of terror, Small club saw the blue haired female stop her companion. The big chested one's words held a questioning tone, but the smart one merely shook her head. She seemed to explain something, and then talked to the one who had brought out flame earlier. Whatever she said seemed to surprise the fire maker, but there was apparently an agreement on something.

Seeing both this, and the way that the new females were herding those she'd brought to this tribe to a safe distance pleased her, and she nodded in the satisfaction of being right about the whole situation,

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Kitty Kuddle [Episode 156255]

by Kestral

She knew about it. At first she considered just letting everyone draw their own conclusions, but decided the situation was complicated enough. "It's called the 'Neko-ken' and you are not in danger. Yet."

"That qualifier doesn't sound very comforting," said Sailor Mercury.

"Psychiatry isn't one of my fields of expertise," admitted Pluto, "so my explanation may not be as technically accurate as I'd like. Ranma suffers from severe ailurophobia - fear of cats. This was brought on by a traumatic experience that his father inflicted upon him. I'll give the details of that later after we've carved up the tiger. Haruka, do you want the honors or can I borrow the Space Sword?"

"I don't think so," said Sailor Uranus. "So he's scared of cats?"

"Yes," said Sailor Pluto. "See if maybe we could borrow the Silence Glaive for this then, it's got a sharp edge. Anyway - when his fears reach a certain point, which can be nudged by other factors, and in the presence of his fear - which can be any sort of cat - his mind snaps. He regresses to an animal-like state, escaping his fear of cats by becoming a cat himself. He remains, at heart, not a killer nor even casually violent - hence the measure of protection."

"Whereas if he became casually violent or had to kill regularly so that it became less of a bother," extrapolated Neptune, "this state would become much more dangerous."

"Exactly," said Pluto, ignoring the way Ranma sniffed her. "Right now he's used up a lot of his reserves because the Neko-ken is a drain on those. He's trying to figure out whose lap he'll take a nap in. This is a measure of trust and like, and since there is emotional memory that carries over - as opposed to rational memory which does not - he'll tend to trust that individual a little more."

Uranus watched as the cat-boy circled, sniffing at all of them and the returning tribes folk (who knew darn well that you didn't waste food and Scar-Face now qualified).

Big Stick was strong. Big Stick was fast. Big Stick was smarter than slope-brow and hairy-people, though hairy-people not seen for many many years.

Big Stick saw Sky Eyes kill Scar-Face. THAT was impressive. Scar-Face had been a problem for many long moons, ever since they'd left the Cleft. Now Scar-Face was food for new tribe.

Big Stick knew that if he was going to get his tribe back, he was going to have to beat Sky Eyes. Somehow.

Threat had sick smell. Threat was deadly. Response also.

Threat no longer alive, therefore no longer threat.

Area not familiar. Sun wrong? Very distant.

Many females. Some smell friendly. Some smell scared. Some smell period.

Neko hungry. Provide food but fight tiring. Need nap THEN eat.

Many make noises but noises unimportant.

Ah, this one. This one make suitable warm-lap-provider.

The assembled Senshi watched as the martial artist apparently decided someone needed to rest as he lightly pulled her down, nudged her a few times, and then settled into her lap. How he managed to fit into a purring little ball was impressive, in its own way.

Apparently Ranma-Neko found just the right lap to snuggle in, as a hand uncertainly came up to stroke his hair.

Sailor Pluto watched, glad it wasn't her. It actually looked kind of cute with Ranma curled up in the lap of-

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Not Quite Icy... [Episode 160154]

by Kender

Ami hesitantly stroked Ranma's hair, mostly because it seemed to be the natural thing to do. She wasn't sure that she could explain it, as she didn't totally understand it herself. All she knew was that she'd been pushed towards a sitting position, and was faced with a rather odd experience. A part of her did wonder if this was karma at work, as she'd always wanted to have some affection in her life. Despite being the 'exam ace' that a lot of the teachers were so proud of, she'd also been a normal teenaged girl with the feelings and desires that came with it. So, she had wanted to have a boyfriend, and and a pet cat, both of which were nice to cuddle up to in different ways.

Now, she had a boy who thought that he was a cat in her lap... and she blushed both because of the rather embarrassing position, and the fact that she was finding this to be rather pleasant, to tell the truth.

Pouting slightly, Minako kicked at a rock. "I wanted him to climb into my lap..."

"It's okay, Mina-chan," Usagi soothed. "At least we know that there are plenty of reasons for him to pick Ami-chan."

"Oh, really..." Sailor Pluto asked.

"Uh-huh. She's always been really nice, is quiet, kind, and friendly, and is very... polite? Respectful? I'm not sure..."

"What is the problem?"

"Well, I wanted to say that she's always deals with people without being pushy and stuff. And she wants to be a doctor so that she can help people like her mom does."

"Exactly."

The reincarnated princess blinked. "Huh?"

"I was going to mention all of that to inform you all that he merely has to feel safe and comfortable to be with the person. Basically, it's an emotional response, and liking the person in question would help. Obviously, he liked Ami."

"And he came up to Hotaru-chan, and Mako-chan for that reason too?"

"Probably. But he probably has his own reasons for choosing her."

"Likely because she was right for him right then," Rei put in.

"True," Pluto admitted, and took on a wry grin. "Maybe it's the first clue in what will be a long term relationship."

"Oh my..." Ami whispered, her cheeks turning pink at the idea.

"Go for it, Ami," Makoto commented.

"I..."

"What?"

"This is all a bit early, isn't it? I mean... we just met..."

"Trust me, you should go with it if you can. I would if it happened to me."

The juku student's eyes widened slightly. "Do... Did you want to be with him?"

"That doesn't matter..."

"And could still happen," Setsuna reminded them as she returned to her 'civilian' form.

"It could?"

"Sure. Remember, this is only one direction. Right now, it is very likely that he does like her, but how much, we can't know. Just let it happen, and keep in mind that we don't exactly have to follow the usual sort of things here."

"How's that?"

"Simple. The laws and rules that we used to live with won't be written for over two hundred thousand years. If you want to share, then it'll be your choice."

"And if we want to keep some propriety?" Rei muttered.

"Then there's only two choices if you want to have even just romance. Each other, or the cavemen, since I can't guarantee that any mysterious lost civilizations will ever show up."

"Oh."

"At least I don't have to worry about such things..." Usagi said apologetically.

"There is a problem with your romance though," the Time Senshi told her.

"What is that?"

"Mamoru won't be born for a good many thousands of years, and even if we manage to find a way to be around at the Moon Kingdom, he'll already be with the you of that time. So, the only other possibility of being with him is..."

"Finding a past incarnation of him," Michiru commented.

"Pretty much."

Usagi slumped a bit, and the violinist spared her a sympathetic look before raising a brow at the Senshi of Pluto. "You seem to be rather... blasé about all the romantic issues here."

"I'm trying to let you all know that you can do as you'd like, though, I'm reasonably certain that Ami's going to be enjoying herself."

"I am?" the girl in question asked.

"You do have a cute boy in your lap, and he does seem to like you."

"I... that is... we haven't... You did say that Mako-chan could be with him too..."

"Well, she could... though I didn't think that you would be so comfortable with offering to have a threesome with him and her. Though, that you would possibly think of it isn't totally out there, considering how much affection you hold for her. And you did both seem to like him by how you slept..."

Both Ami and Makoto turned a bright pink at Setsuna's words, with the tanned woman finding that she was enjoying her teasing a whole lot.

Small Club looked over at where Sky Eyes was curled up on what had to be his mate's lap, and wondered why the tall green haired one was seeming to be so amused with herself

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Resemblance [Episode 160163]

by Kestral

If one looked, one could see Akane Tendo in Small Club. Mostly.

The brow ridge was a little more pronounced, the jaw a little broader, a few teeth missing should be expected at this level of development. The hair was matted and stringy, and Small Club was both hairier and dirtier than Akane Tendo had ever been. Flint weapons had been around for awhile, and so hair COULD be cut. Bathing wasn't done that often though and one of the primary social activities available at this level of sophistication was picking fleas and other parasites off of one's fellow tribesmen. Then eating those parasites - it was protein after all.

When the Senshi observed this the first time, their reaction would likely be memorable.

Small Club also had more in the way of souvenirs in the trip her life had taken. An old burn here, an old cut there - it all added up into little scars and blemishes that had covered her arms and legs. Modern healthcare was thousands of years away and a mudpack bandage was the most common cure to a number of ills.

None of the primitive tribe were particularly free of these marks, nor of the smell. The idea of regular bathing hadn't caught on yet and they had been spending their time trying to survive while wandering.

Small Club watched these newcomers whose tribe they had just joined, and more than one set of eyes scrutinized them and tried to make sense of what they did.

Copperhair (named for the color, they didn't know copper as a metal) was Small Club's sister and was very clever. Copperhair was frowning as if this were a track she didn't know and was trying to puzzle out what had left it.

All in all, the Tribe was wondering what to make of these individuals.

Finally it was Little Pecker who came up with an idea. Since they had left their old grounds, where the Waterfall had been their god and protector, these were new gods of this particular area.

Everyone immediately thought that the idea had come from Little Pecker, therefore the idea was crap.

"So what's the next order of business?" asked Michiru, ignoring the dead big cat and various other problems she was now facing.

"We'll need more shelters since our 'tribe' just increased," said Setsuna, eyeing the huddled bodies watching them cautiously a few yards away. "Since personal hygiene is mostly nonexistent at this stage - we won't want to share space with them."

"They're pretty whiffy," agreed Minako.

"There's also food, water, sanitation, and other concerns," said Setsuna. "This area isn't going too well in those regards. As I recall, this is an era of climatic change."

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Looking to Move [Episode 164451]

by Kender

"Then we have no choice, right?" Usagi asked. "We're going to have to move."

Michiru raised a brow. "You want us to move about?"

"Well... yes. If this place is going to be bad for us, isn't it not a good idea to stick around for a long time?"

"Yes..."

"Then why act so surprised."

"Because you put 'sensible' and 'work' together, and suggested that we go in that direction," Rei commented as she sat down and crossed her legs.

"Oh, Rei-chan, you're so mean..." the reincarnated princess groused.

"No, realistic. You've never been one to push for something that would need a lot of effort."

"This is important, so we can't ignore it."

"Then what will you have us do?"

Smiling slightly, the blonde shook her head. "Not me. Mako-chan, Ami-chan, Setsuna-chan, and maybe Haruka-chan."

The named blonde blinked slightly. "Why me?"

"Because you might just know camping, and you know how to do a lot of physical stuff?"

"Ummm..."

"I do know something about camping," Makoto admitted. "And cooking. But we're going to need more than that."

"Which is why I think that it'd be a good idea to follow Usagi's suggestion. Everyone else agree?" Setsuna asked.

Haruka gave off a small snort. "What do you think? I don't want to starve to death."

"And I'd like to have a bath..." Minako complained.

"Which would mean a regular water supply. Basically, if we can find a place where we could get enough of what we need, we can make a more permanent settlement, which would let us do that."

"Like on that American television show, with the huts, and the smart guy who made all those neat things!"

"Oddly enough, I think that I know what you're talking about," Rei muttered. "But where are we going to find someone smart enough to figure that sort of stuff out?"

Ami blinked at the others as she noticed something about them. "Why are you all staring at me?"

"Just realizing just how big a help you might be."

"Oh... But there is one thing."

"What's that?"

"Why is that one particular cave... person is coming towards you?"

Rei glanced behind herself just in time to see the cavegirl dubbed 'Akane' come towards her, seeming ready to pinch something. When the primitive girl saw that she'd been noticed, she jumped back a little, making apologetic sounding noises as she tried to look as inoffensive as possible. Once the shrine priestess relaxed enough, 'Akane' got bold again, and moved forward, settling down next to the Senshi of Fire right before starting to push through Rei's hair.

"What is she doing to me?" Rei asked.

Setsuna couldn't keep herself from smiling just a bit. "Making friends, I think."

"'Making friends'? Why would you think that?"

"Simple. Remember, our friends here don't have much in the way of things, so they couldn't give us much to start with. Now, most of the time, what they would do would be to give someone they're trying to befriend a shiny rock that they'd found, or a bit of food. As they can't give us that, they give what they can, which is universal among girls, right down to the monkey ancestors."

"And that would mean?"

"It's really quite simple," Ami stated. "Primates will groom each other to strengthen bonds, which will include... pulling off parasites like ticks, fleas, and other insects, which can also be... eaten."

"She's trying to..."

"Clean you, and share a meal. Probably trying to get on your good side," the Senshi of Time informed the younger girl.

"How wonderful," Rei grumped,

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Destination [Episode 164461]

by Kestral

The place: Ethiopia

The Time: 200,000BC

"This is the piedmont area of the Great Rift Valley," explained Setsuna, using a stick to sketch symbols in the dirt. "We're here."

"Rift?" asked Minako.

"Plate tectonics," said Ami. "The African and Arabic tectonic plates are moving apart, which brings earthquakes and other ecological problems to this region. It stretches from Beqaa valley in Lebanon in the North to -"

"Can I take my question back?" asked Minako, eyes glazing over.

"There's also several other problems developing in the local weather, with causes as diverse as the Himalayas and the changing coastal currents," said Setsuna. "There are reasons that mankind may have started here, but civilization rose elsewhere."

"So if we're gonna start up, we go somewhere else?" asked Usagi. "Taking them?"

Senshi glanced towards the twelve tribes folk.

"Huh?" said a sleeping boy, waking up and discovering he was on someone's lap. "AGGHH! Sorrysorrysorry."

One-Eye had been the old leader back when they'd lived in the Cleft. It had been a good life, where they could venture out and hunt and gather - then return to the area with the sacred waterfall that provided safety and water to drink.

One-Eye had been old and sick when Big Stick had challenged him. One-Eye died and his parts were eaten by Big Stick to make him stronger and leader of the tribe.

The sacred waterfall had begun drying up soon after that. The hunting and gathering had begun getting poorer. The waterfall slowed to a trickle during the dry months, and Scar-Face was prowling. The Cleft had no longer been safe, and five of the people had died before the decision was made to leave the Cleft and find a new hunting ground.

Big Stick had led the four hands and fist of people forward, and by the time they had found the stone igloo their number had gone to two hands and three.

Now they were two hands and two. Big Stick was on his own.

Or they were more, if you considered the Others.

Copperhair was clever, while Grass-weaver was the most thoughtful, and Rock-thrower was the best in finding smooth rocks that she could throw hard. Little Pecker was a short male who enjoyed small berries.

The Others were curiously smooth of face, thin of build, hairless except a few areas, and they had some furs which were very odd indeed. None of the Tribe wore furs, the day was warm after all, and so looked at these furs as being quite strange.

Now these Others made their odd speech and seemed to be scratching things into the dirt.

Small Club tried to edge closer to see.

"So where do we go from here?" asked Minako. "It's not like there's a corner market anywhere."

There were various considering looks, but when it came together the decision was:

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Choice [Episode 175013]

by Kender

"Alright, so we all know that going to Japan won't work," Haruka sighed as she seemed to brush off the idea after their talk went on fro several minutes.

Rei gave her a a snort and a frown. "Kind of easy for you to brush it off, isn't it?"

"Not really. To tell the truth, I would love to live there, except for two things."

"Which are..."

"The fact that this is two hundred /thousand/ years before our time, and that we'd have to travel over all the way there to manage that little feat," the short haired blonde admitted.

"Oh."

"Unless you want to try for yourself..."

"No, that's quite alright," the miko admitted. The only reason that I mentioned it was I didn't like the idea of being so easy to leave out Japan."

"Oh, I see... Interesting idea, but not going to work for now."

"What about going south, to somewhere nice, hot, and sunny?" Minako suggested.

As the others simply stared at the blonde with the bow in her hair, Hotaru decided to see if a correction would be needed. "Mina-chan? We /are/ in a place that is hot and sunny..."

"I know /that/. I just figured that we could go say... south, and find a nice and hot place, maybe with nice beaches."

"Then the place that we're going to go, is..."

"Greece," Ami piped up.

"So, we will have to go all the way there..." Michiru whispered under her breath.

"Except that, if we go there, we'll not only have a nice place where the weather is good, and the land grows a lot of food, but there is plenty of opportunity to defend ourselves."

"There wasn't a place to that good closer?"

"I can understand your problems with those things," the Senshi of Mercury admitted. "There's even some good land on the sea up on the northern part of the continent. But..."

"What?"

"They are easy to attack, and might be getting crowded. Remember, there are a lot of animals and mean tribes around now..."

"And I think that we need to get to work as soon as we can," Setsuna told the younger girls, and sole boy.

Ranma nodded. "The sooner the better. I've travelled really long distances before."

"You have?" Makoto asked with a mildly surprised blink.

"Sure did. Had to travel from the coast to some mountains in China close to Tibet."

"You travelled all the way from the airport..."

The pigtailed boy shook his head. "Didn't go there."

"Umm... Ship?"

"Nope. Was at the dock though"

Mild confusion was all that the emerald eyed girl could show. "Then how'd you get to China?"

"Swam."

"'Swam'?"

"Swam," he confirmed, and cocked his head to the side. "Pop said that he wanted to make into training, but it could've been that he'd been just really cheap."

Each of the girls glanced at each other, while:

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Travelling [Episode 175164]

by Kestral

Small Club didn't really look like Akane if you were to look at a photo of Akane and at Small Club as she squatted there on the savannah. She certainly didn't smell like Akane. If you went with body language or voice, there was also little to say about Small Club that was definitely Akane. When Ranma looked, he could see Akane in the same way he could see a ducky in a cloud formation. While there was a little more to it than that in truth, one was looking at more than surface details to get the Small Club-Akane connection.

When the Cat had been present, the closest he could find to Akane had been Ami. Coallating the subtle details had escaped the Cat.

Ranma found himself gravitating towards Ami, and put it down towards the fact that the various tribesmen (including the sort-of-Akane) were kind of dirty. Smelly. Not particularly inviting long periods of time in close contact.

Ranma knew a lot of things about surviving mainly on his own. That was one thing his father had taught him and he was going at it quite well now. PLANNING wasn't something he considered a strength.

Which was why he held up a hand during all the bickering and interrupted them. "Hey. Ya just tell me what we need to do this, and I'll get it."

"Straight wood," said Ami after considering it. "Haruka's sword can cut in straight lines. We can collect things and make a cart for transport."

"Which will slow us down," argued Haruka. "There aren't any roads here. No clear paths to find. We're going to have to walk to Greece."

"Not necessarily," said Setsuna. "We can try a Sailor Teleport. That's relatively short range and should only exhaust us temporarily."

"That means leaving them behind," said Rei.

Everyone glanced towards where the tribes folk were gathered. One threw a rock at the carcass of the dead spotted lion and screeched at it a few times. The others thought this apparently a very funny thing.

"Okayyyyy," said Michiru, feeling terribly inelegant and uncivilized at the moment. "So it would be best if we had some form of transportation."

"Where'd Ranma go?" asked Ami as she noticed the empty spot that had been occupied a few minutes ago. He wasn't playing with the puppies with Usagi was he? No, there was Usagi and the puppies. Maybe...

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Finding Fur [Episode 181504]

by Kender

Rei frowned slightly as she tried to come up with an answer to her blue haired friend's question. "Honestly, I don't know."

"You didn't see him?" Ami asked, her face pulled down into an expression of concern.

"Not really..."

"Why wouldn't we..."

"It's really simple, you know," Haruka told both younger girls with a shrug. "He's really quick, remember? You don't watch him for a second, and, poof, he's gone."

"But, why wouldn't he tell us that he was going?"

"Who knows? I mean, we don't even know that he went far."

"I don't see him," Minako commented, sounding rather put out by that fact.

"Alright, then we don't know that he went further than out of our sight."

Giving a reassuring smile to the younger girls, Michiru nodded to herself. "I wouldn't worry though. What could happen..."

"We're two hundred thousand years in the past," Rei pointed out. "And he doesn't know much about it."

"He could get attacked by something that wants to eat him," Setsuna pointed out, her 'cheerful' tone meant to obviously tease.

The Senshi of Love looked around at the clear land around their current location. "He doesn't have a map of this place, and could get lost."

"There might be other tribes of 'cavemen' around here..." mentioned Ami.

"Okay, okay, I've got it," the violinist sighed, and shook her head. "Try to give some others reassurance..."

"We understand your reasoning, but, at this point, we have reason to be concerned," the Senshi of Time told Michiru, patting the girl on the shoulder.

"And who knows, he might show up just as quick as he disappeared," the raven haired shrine priestess murmured.

"Who would?" asked a now familiar male voice.

"Why, you would... Ranma?!"

"Yeah? What's the matter?"

As Rei rolled her eyes, Hotaru turned to look at the sole boy from their time there. "You disappeared for a little bit..."

"I saw something out of the corner of my eye and went to check on it. Good thing that I did."

"You..."

"It took a bit of... convincing, but he learned to behave... I think," the dirty, disheveled, and scraped up pigtailed boy commented, smiling apologetically as something nudged his arm. "He insisted on following me 'home'. Can I keep him?"

Minako simply stared, and lifted a limp hand to point with. "That:

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: I will name him... [Episode 181669]

by Kestral

"GWUH!" said the creature.

"Anyone got a clue as to what that is?" asked Minako.

"It's a rhino, sort of," said Ami, looking it over.

"What is an Elasmotherium doing in Africa?" asked Setsuna, quite curious.

"A What?" asked Minako.

"An elasmotherium, a form of rhino. This is an anomaly," said Setsuna. "An anachronism. This should not be here."

"GWUH," insisted the creature.

"A rhino, huh?" asked Ranma, ruffling the fur atop the guy's head. "I'm gonna name you 'ryoga' cause he's got kinda a 'rhino' approach."

"I thought rhinos were bigger," complained Minako.

"This one's young," said Setsuna. "Maybe a few weeks old, if that. I'm rather more surprised that one is here in Africa when it should be found in Northern Russia instead."

"A baby?" asked Usagi, ready to do as she would around just about any baby animal.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Big Baby [Episode 186430]

by Kender

Those who knew Usagi were quite aware of her predilection for being happy around animals. She was quite able to pick up and cuddle with a cat without being afraid of anything that the animal could do to her. Most of her companions, including the ones unaware of her 'Senshi' activities', had been quite sure that she would be a mother in the future. No one was entirely sure that she could be much of a disciplinarian, but of the fact that she would be a loving and caring parent was certain. In fact, many assumed that her future would be that of a wife to an office worker or junior management type, having a small house and a loving family.

But it wasn't her that got the ball rolling regarding the newest, and rather large, member of their group.

"Oooh, so he's still a baby..." murmured Minako, as she reached over and rubbed Ryoga under his bulky chin, eliciting a grunt of pleasure from the rhino-like beast. "You just want to be loved, now don't you, you big guy?"

"His breath tickles," Hotaru giggled as she lost her apprehension when the beast turned and accidentally blew air out his nose at her.

Makoto patted his back and grinned. "Well, this guy's going to be something else, isn't he?"

"I know! Isn't he just acting like a sweetheart?!" Usagi declared, throwing her arms around the baby elasmotherium to give it as much of a hug as she could.

"Looks like we're keeping him," Michiru commented drily, raising a brow in amusement.

"You're telling me," Haruka grunted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You mind that?"

"No, not particularly."

"Then what is it?"

The short haired blonde sighed. "I'm only thinking that it's getting to be a bit complicated. The situation, I mean."

"That is natural, isn't it? After all, we're only at the start of our time here."

"Oh, I get that. It's just that we could do a lot of things more simply. Heck, we could use a 'Sailor Teleport', and avoid a lot of the hassle, can't we?"

Setsuna looked down her nose at the Senshi of Uranus. "That's a possibility. Try keeping the focus needed for a Teleport while herding a litter of wolf cubs that just lost their parents, a tribe of cavemen who think shiny rocks, and a giant hairy rhino. Maybe that'll be your thing to try."

"I get the point."

"Good. Just remember, the 'Sailor Teleport' isn't just some magic trick that you pull off at a moment's notice. If that was the case, Usagi wouldn't be late for school every morning after an evening battle."

Shaking her head, Ami sighed. "She's late no matter what... But still, even if we could teleport to the moon, we still have to live with the 'here and now'."

"Meaning, we work with what we've got, and keep from trying to rely too much on our powers."

"Pretty much. If we establish routines now, then we can keep our lives simple, and easier to handle. I, for one, suggest that we keep our eyes out for cave openings, so that we can have shelter, at least for the time being."

"Are you that desperate to move in with our friends here?" Haruka quipped, smirking slightly at the blue haired girl.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Hey, they live in caves, or at least would, if there were any about. What's so great that we'd want to be in one?"

"A cave would have thick walls, protecting us from the weather and predators, and would be easy to block up. Some of them are also quite large, and would be able to fit all of us in relative comfort. Thus giving us a place where we could be safe and warm, despite the fact that none of us could build a sizable structure at the moment."

Wincing at the cool tones of the normally shy cram school student, the racer took a step back, almost as if she'd been slapped. "Sorry. I was only thinking of being stuck in a hole in the ground. Forgot that it could actually be useful."

"That's easy to understand. But remember, since we don't exactly have a lot of construction experience, we're going to have to make do with what we have."

"Trust me, that's something that I know. If nothing else, I plan on doing what I can to make sure that things go how they should."

"And they've been going so well so far," Setsuna said airily.

"You know what I mean. It's not like we're getting into... Whoa! HEY!" Haruka yelped as she found herself being nudged by a giant furry 'rhino'.

"I think that he likes you," Rei told the short haired blonde, letting one side of her mouth curve up.

"I'd kind of like to be able to have him like me a little bit less. What's with him, anyway? Does he think that I'm his mother or something?"

A smiling Ami pressed her fingers to her mouth as she tried to repress a smile. "Actually, I would think that Ranma would be fitting into that role."

"Hey!" the mentioned boy blurted. "I ain't a girl!"

"I mean that you're his parent, herd leader, or something like that."

"Oh. Okay."

"However, in your case Haruka... how do I put this..."

The racer gave the Senshi of Mercury a flat look. "Say it, okay?"

"Well... I think that he's seeking attention from everyone, and... He may see you as a playmate. If he had siblings, he'd play with them. But now that he's the only one of his kind around, he's sort of... put you into the role."

"So, according to the prehistoric rhino, she's one of his kind," put in the Senshi of Mars, resulting in laughter from the others.

"Ugh. Just shut up," Haruka muttered, absently patting the head of the massive beast that was trying to 'play' with her, while:

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Third time's the charm [Episode 186593]

by Kestral

Setsuna went to the tree, picked a few apples, and considered them briefly before nodding. Once is odd, twice is coincidence, third time - a pattern.

"So, this could be a problem," admitted Setsuna aloud.

"Problem? No, we could use these," said Haruka, filling an armload with the fruit herself.

"Never mind," said Setsuna. "Let's just get back to camp."

Mamoru Chiba gasped as he pulled himself up a cliff-face, having slid down yet another one.

Once again, he'd managed to survive. Though he had to admit that since landing here, wherever HERE was, he had gotten a bit better at the not-standing-there-in-stunned-disbelief section.

If healing had NOT been one of his skills, that broken leg would probably have been his death sentence. He really hadn't expected the herd to charge OVER him. It was hard enough to believe what he'd been seeing up until the pain had convinced him that they were quite real.

He was wearing the outfit of Prince Endymion, NOT his tuxedo. Tuxedos were perfectly fine in civilized company in a city. They were considerably less fine when you were trampled by giant pigs. He was just glad that whatever had been pursuing them hadn't trusted the smell of human and hadn't given the pigs time to use their tusks on the smelly two-legs in his path.

Now if he could just tell WHERE he was, he might have a chance to figure out how to get home.

"RARRRRRRRRR!"

Other than climbing up a cliff because THAT whatever-it-was was apparently not as picky about potential menu items.

Ryoga didn't understand a lot of things, but he DID understand the succulent little things tasted really really good.

"Apples?" asked Ami, who then made a point of looking around herself at the African savannah.

"Nummy!" said Usagi, clearly enjoying her taste of apple.

"Grunk!" protested Ryoga, who felt that those tasty things were clearly rhino-food.

"This is pretty bad," said Minako, holding up her first attempt at basketweaving using local materials.

Michiru continued making one of her own, which was clearly holding up better than Minako's attempt.

"Where's Ranma and Rei-chan?" asked Usagi, handing off an apple to the female tribesman who had been the boldest in approaching them so far.

"Rei, Makoto, and Hotaru are making a shelter for tonight," said Minako, eyeing the way her basket had come apart. "I don't know why they didn't want my help."

"Couldn't say," tactfully said Michiru. "Ranma's hunting."

Something that sounded large and nasty roared off in the distance.

"That's twice now," said Setsuna. "I wonder what that is."

"I don't know, it sounds far away, and that's all for the best," said Michiru.

"unn unn," said Small Club, not understanding any of their speech but managing to agree with the sentiment nonetheless.

Hotaru used the keen blade of her Silence Glaive, and rock parted with just enough resistance to tell her she WAS cutting through it.

Makoto stacked the large heavy rocks together.

Rei transformed to Sailor Mars and welded the rocks together at critical junctures.

"Think it'll rain again tonight?" asked Hotaru during one of their breaks.

"Don't know," said Makoto. "What do you think of the decision?"

"I don't know," said Rei. "Tomorrow morning we'll be rested and we can try:"

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Conservation Of Resources [Episode 188817]

by Kender

"I don't know," said Rei. "Tomorrow morning we'll be rested and we can try a Sailor Teleport."

Hotaru frowned slightly as she glanced at the raven haired girl. "We aren't going to try and go too far, are we?"

"Not really. But I think that it might be best to try and see what would be ahead of us."

"Like... What do they call it? 'Scouting'?"

"That's exactly it."

"Then why not just see how far we can go in our Senshi forms?" the youngest of the trio asked.

"It's not that simple," Makoto told her as she stretched her arms to get the kinks out. "Using a Teleport would be the fastest way to get out there, and if there's trouble, we can just get back the same way."

"Ohhh..."

"Besides, I'd have to say that it'd also be good to have people scouting on foot too. This way we know what's right in front of us, and what's far in the distance."

"Which will help us in the long run," the shrine priestess put in.

"Not to mention that travelling on foot will let us live off of the land. If what Setsuna says is true, we should be able to get plenty of supplies."

"You're thinking of keeping us stocked as we go?"

"Not only that," the tall girl corrected. "Remember, we need to get whatever we can to help us. And it's entirely possible that we'll find something on the way that we can take with us and use."

"True, though that wasn't what I was thinking about when I decided to go along with the plan."

"Oh?"

"Think about it. We have no idea of what's out there. For all we know, we might teleport in on some sort of lost civilization, and they might not be exactly friendly. I'd rather not just jump in without knowing what's going on."

"That's true enough..."

Rei shrugged. "Yes, but it is also unlikely, I know."

"But it'd still be enough for you..."

"Sort of. You see, we are still human, and we aren't exactly ready to be just using our powers blindly and without stopping. I don't know about anyone else, I'd rather not be exhausted after using my powers for things that we can do on our own."

"I know what you mean. If we were to tire ourselves out, it could be a problem. Especially if it happened when there was something dangerous out there."

"But aren't you guys really strong?" asked Hotaru.

"Thanks for the support, but the thing is that even being a little tired could be bad. And we're not about to let ourselves get caught up in using our powers for everything. That's what a lot of our enemies have done..."

"That would be bad... Still, we can do things without our powers, right?"

"Pretty much."

"I'm just glad that I'm not going to be a burden..."

Makoto reached over and ruffled the younger girl's hair. "You weren't one earlier."

"That's right. Don't think of yourself as a problem, okay?" Rei agreed.

"Thank you both," Hotaru murmured, blushing slightly as she took in what they told her

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Scattershot? [Episode 188927]

by Kestral

"Apples?" asked Ami, staring.

"Yes," said Setsuna. "Fuji apples."

"But that's -" Ami gestured around her.

"Exactly," said Setsuna, looking instead towards a gazelle torso that was being roasted over a fire, then over at the cavemen.

Ranma looked at the two, at Usagi and Rei, then back at Setsuna. "What's what?"

"In the time travel stories I've read, even when the mechanism is not understood, it's a neat single event," said Setsuna. "A community such as Nantucket, or a single individual like the Connecticut Yankee, is moved back or forward in time to a single point of time. In reality this would cause movement to a divergent timeline as part of the quantum many-worlds."

"You read time travel stories?" asked Rei, thinking that odd.

"Professional interest, and sometimes they are unintentionally funny," said Setsuna, a slight shrug accompanying her words. "That isn't what has occurred."

"No?" asked Rei. "But we're here. In the past I mean."

"Yes, but either things were dragged along in our passage, or instead of a single 'shot' it's more like a shotgun effect," said Setsuna. "We aren't the only ones displaced in time or space. Ryoga there - shouldn't be anywhere near Africa. Neither should that apple tree. Not only are Fuji apples an artificial hybrid developed in the twentieth century, this is entirely the wrong area and climate for apple trees to grow. While this is a period of great climatic changes, it isn't a good area for such fruit to grow. I'll have to get a cutting though to take with us. We can start an orchard with that."

"Isn't that a bit much to get off of one rhino and one apple tree?" asked Rei.

"It might just be oddities if it were only two instances," said Setsuna. "There was a third. Us. Of course, it might be that these are all we'll run across. Ryoga is in the right timeframe, but the wrong area, so he might just be here normally. Right now there's too few examples from which to draw a conclusion."

Ranma frowned a little bit then handed 'Akane' a gazelle leg that he had set over the fire. Watching her take it back to share among the tribe (who were still tagging along but tended to bunch together a little away from the 'uptimers') he was oddly silent.

In truth, there was a lot of this situation that was just completely over his head. He was following THEIR lead because he wasn't the expert in those things. Sure he could survive in this situation - he could locate food and water and live off the land. He wasn't exactly inclined towards keeping OTHER people alive for long periods though, and he wasn't about to abandon them.

He knew very little about Greece, except that apparently they'd pioneered a style of martial arts there. Pankration, he thought it was called.

Still, these gals were planning on building a civilization, and they were the only ticket around here.

"So you're saying this is just a theory and may not be the case," said Rei.

"True, but if it IS the case, I wanted everyone to know. You may find more evidence now that you know what to look for," admitted Setsuna.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Cat Trouble [Episode 192768]

by Kender

There had been a time when Mamoru had taken Usagi out to the zoo, and he could remember it clearly. To tell the truth, it had been a rather wonderful time, but not because of any of the animals. Rather, he'd loved that his beloved little goofball had been so taken by the sight of the various creatures there. For her, the opportunity to see a monkey was a time to giggle, and seeing a panda was a moment to gush over how they 'really were like giant teddy bears'. Being in her happy presence, he'd enjoyed seeing everything, from the penguins, to the lions.

Of course, he hadn't been in the middle of being chased by said lion back then.

As of right at that moment though, he really was being chased by a lion, as that was what it looked like. If he was being truthful, he'd have had to say that it looked a bit bigger than what he remembered from the zoo, but then, he hadn't exactly been as close to one as he currently was. Given that the creature in question was trying to bite him on his backside, he knew that being certain about size issues was the last of his worries right then.

Not that he'd been particularly expecting this. The last time that he'd remembered, there had been some sort of attempt by the Senshi to go somewhere using Pluto's abilities to guide them. Unfortunately, rather than being dropped somewhere that was where he was supposed to be, he was stuck in a place where a forest was the only landscape that he could see, and his only attempt at using a cave for shelter had resulted in discovering that it was a bad idea to interrupt a bear and a lion when they were fighting over territory. He could have used his powers to bound away from the angry feline, but as he was dodging sweeps of a paw, and pounces, he was having a bit of trouble focusing.

Spotting a good looking tree, he ran to it, and leapt up to climb up amongst its branches. His only fear was that the really big cat was not of the sort that could follow him, as that would make it ever so harder to get away from it. That being up in a tree, clinging to its trunk, was not exactly the most dignified position had occurred to him, but as it was keeping him alive, he could live with it.

What he was troubled by was the clear indication that this was not exactly the time period that he was supposed to be in. First off, there was a lion that wasn't in the jungle, which was currently growling and snarling at him from the ground beneath him. Then there was the fact that there seemed to be something rather off about the forest itself, almost like it wasn't as... mature as he'd have known. And there certainly wasn't any signs that there had even been a civilization around there any time recently.

Despite hoping that he was wrong, he couldn't help but wonder what this would mean. After all, he was stuck in a tree in a time that he couldn't quite identify, and that would mean that not only would he be blocked from returning to his own life, but he would possibly be forever separated from Usagi. That wasn't something that felt all that good, and he had to wonder what would happen if he couldn't get back. She was someone who was supposed to be having a future as a bride, and even if there futures hadn't been laid out for them, he would have been happy marrying her, making a house, raising their children, and growing old together. Now, he had no idea if he could get to be around to make that happen. If he couldn't, then he didn't want her to live alone for the rest of her life...

Shaking his head clear of the painful image of some other guy comforting his sweet girlfriend's heartache, Mamoru tried to put the situation in perspective. For all he knew, this was only a momentary aberration. Sailor Pluto did have the ability to move through time, and she could be coming to pick him up any time soon. Heck, Usagi and the girls could have been dropped nearby, and he could have to only rejoin them before they moved on to deal with the situation. Put into that perspective, his problem wasn't quite as bad as it might have seemed.

Had he known that ten years earlier, his dear Usagi had started on a journey north accompanied by her friends, including a Pluto who didn't have access to the Gates at the moment, a pack of wolf cubs, a tribe of cavemen, a prehistoric rhino baby, and a male martial artist with 'issues', he might have been less confident about then.

Still, as he was trying to hope that he was mistaken in thinking that he was seeing mammoths passing in the distance, he wasn't all that certain about his future possibilities anyway.

So, he hung on to his tree with a 'put upon' growl of his own, and wondered when the lion would stop trying to knock him off the branch,

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Welcome to Serenity [Episode 193080]

by Ranger of the Crossover Fiancees

-5 years later

Mamoru Chiba scratched at the uneven stubble on his face, he'd never quite gotten the hang of shaving with a flint knife even after all these years of practice. Somehow he had managed to survive the cave lion, the hyenas, flash floods, earthquakes, stampedes and even a severe case of the trots after eating the wrong thing at the wrong time. And then there had been the ribbon, the one thing that had kept him going for all this time.

A part of Sailor Moon's Uniform. There had been no doubt in his mind when he'd found it at that long since abandoned campsite. It had given him hope and the strength to keep on going to find her. How many miles had he gone he couldn't say, only that it had been a long long way.

But he was close now, he knew it. At last destiny would be fulfilled and together they would find their way back home, back to Tokyo where they belonged and out of this filthy hellhole that was the past.

Little did Mamoru suspect how many changes had taken place in the last fifteen years...

It was a peaceful day.

Aeneas kept watch on the border of Serenity's lands. The deeply tanned youth was only in his early teens but carried himself like a grown man of the Tribe. Which he was, for all intents and purposes save the one that the females in the tribe longed for him to do. He had his father's face, though the green highlights in his dark hair easily proclaimed his mother's genes, as did his crimson eyes.

Perched high in his selected tree, the boy had an excellent view of the flat plains as far as the crow could fly. He wore only a simple leather loincloth during the baking heat of this late summer day and that only because it caused his sisters and the other girls to trip over things if he didn't and then the Mothers would get on his case about it. A simple flint tipped spear at his side in the crook of the branch he was sitting on, the head bound tightly to the stout shaft with dried dirk toothed tiger sinew. It was a good spear that could be thrown or wielded in hand to hand as needed. That same beast had also provided him with the long tooth knife sheathed in deer leather at his side.

In the distance behind him, a small herd of deer browsed, the crude bells tied with rope around their necks the only visible evidence that they were not just another bunch of wild animals. Kaede and Yuna would be there with the milkers. It was their job to watch the animals as it was his to be on the lookout for trouble. Further back would be the fields with the food plants being raised in their neat organized rows and beyond that was Serenity, their home.

Mother had laughed more then once and called it 'The first city before cities exist'. He'd asked her what a 'city' was and each time she'd told him that he would understand when the time was right. Mother could be frustrating like that a lot of the time when she and father were not busy mating like excited ferrets. All of the Mothers seemed to be like that, come to think of it. Aeneas wondered why, it seemed kind of messy and Father always looked exhausted afterwards as if he'd been doing hard work all day. Actually that wasn't quite true, Father tended to look more energetic after a day's hard work.

Something glinted in the distance.

Eyes narrowing, the youth shaded his eyes for a better look.

Not a predator, but something that moved on two legs...

Pursing his lips, Aeneas picked up the polished copper disk in the hollow of the trunk and started to signal with the reflected light of the sun back to where he knew other eyes were watching.

'Stranger coming. Wearing black metal. Alert Father and the Mothers.'

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Sky's the Limit (LIME) [Episode 195204]

by Ranger of the Crossover Fiancees

Aeneas leaped down to the ground with the grace of a hunting cat, weapons in hand.

Strangers always fell into two camps.

They came in peace or they left in pieces.

He didn't particularly care one way or the other how this one wanted to go.

The boy had a duty and he would fulfill it.

Haruka Tenoh sighed as she slumped onto a chair built from mammoth bones, rubbing her swollen belly as another twinge of movement from the region left her with a warm feeling in her chest and a familiar slippery feeling inside her bare sex. The short haired woman could almost smell her own musky arousal as she rested inside the cool interior of Serenity's water mill. She could easily picture what she looked like right now, a horny knocked up breeder as she was meant to be. clad only in a simple brown animal skin top and a tough leather apron in front that ended at her knees, Tenoh was a far cry from the arrogant tomboy she'd been when she'd first come to this time period. The woman had aged well during the years as her Star Crystal's power seemed to have stopped her physical maturation around her early twenties.

'Though there's no way I'd pass as a boy now.'

Haruka glanced ruefully at where her swollen breasts strained eagerly against the feeble restraint holding them in place. Her younger self would have been shocked and horrified to see her like this, she knew. That younger Haruka would never have understood what she herself had come to realize over the years.

She loved being pregnant.

The number of times Haruka had had a period over the last fifteen years could be counted on one hand and still have a few fingers left over. She'd heard all of the stories back in the future in Tokyo of course, of the morning sickness and the bloating and the pain when the baby came out. But to her initial surprise it hadn't been like that for her. There was only the warm glow, constant arousal and finally an incredibly strong series of orgasms during the birthing. The other Senshi were all quite envious about her good fortune. And after the first time, she'd simply never stopped having Ranma give her what she wanted.

She smiled quietly.

This one would be her eighteenth child and she was hoping for a boy this time. Of them all only Setsuna and Usagi had given birth to a son and Haruka knew the two younglings would have their hands full trying to keep up with the demand of their sisters if they were to begin expanding into a real start at civilization.

It was rather funny how certain conventional moralities didn't seem to matter so much when you were literally in the stone age and trying to work your way up. Any attempt to impose Monogamy with their small genetic base was practically suicide and with the average life span for the locals on the order of something like thirty years or less, they'd been forced to accept that the people they led would breed early and often. Just the simple introduction of soap to clean and alcohol as a disinfectant had raised Serenity's average life span by something like fifty percent.

She looked around her domain. The mills were her responsibility as she was the best one with practical mechanics out of all of them (though she had complained at the start that it didn't include being reduced to sticks and rocks). Around her the cavewomen (even if they didn't live in caves anymore) were carefully processing grain and nuts into flour with the millstone, using the power of the water to accomplish a feat that would have taken more muscle power then they had to spare otherwise. Simple technology, but lightyears ahead of anything else in this time. To many of Serenity's citizens, it was still nothing short of magic provided by 'the Fair Ones', as they called the Senshi.

Setsuna and Ami had been quite clear on avoiding being labeled as 'Goddesses' by the people as that kind of thing they said would lead to all kinds of trouble in the future. Haruka herself didn't really see the point of it all, but accepted that those two knew more about this kind of thing then she did and left it at that. Besides, she couldn't complain about her role here, even if the women tended to have more body hair then Ranma did. While the men of the city wouldn't dream of touching any of the Senshi or their offspring against their will, it was best that they not be provided any unnecessary temptations to make it any harder for them. Besides, the local women thought Haruka was lucky for them, her obvious signs of estrus and pregnancy showing that she attracted the spirits of life and the women believed those same spirits could be attracted to them as well. And who was to say they weren't right, there were many rounding bellies among them here besides her own.

Haruka looked up as a panting runner banged on the wall to the open entrance of the building before coming inside, the small youth bearing a blue stained cloth wrapped around his arm.

"A summons?"

Haruka couldn't run, but she could still jog fast enough at this stage of her development that it was only a few minutes before she arrived at the Main Hall.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Blondes do have more fun (LEMON) [Episode 195314]

by Ranger of the Crossover Fiancees

A hand touched Aenea's shoulder as he started to move forward. He spun around in a flash, weapons at the ready. Only to lower them in annoyance when he saw who had managed to sneak up on him.

"Mana," he said in a disapproving tone as he looked up at his smirking full-blood sister.

She was a year younger then he was, but towered over him as one of the tallest women in the Tribe. Her skin was just as brown as his was, but she had their father's raven black hair and the golden eyes of a hunting cat. Aeneas pointedly pretended that he did not notice how her full breasts were prominently displayed by the thin cotton of the top that the Mothers insisted all of their daughters wear once they'd started changing into women. The Mothers said it was to keep those breasts from bouncing around, but Aeneas was doubtful about that since even when the girls wore them, their chests did things when they ran that made him feel very nervous and weird. Mana was one of those who seemed to take particularly great delight in parading around him like that whenever possible. The fact that out of all the sisters she had the third largest chest only made her that much more insufferable. Mana's only other garment was something the Mothers called a 'bottom', which seemed to consist solely of two upside down triangles of cloth that covered where she peed out of and the other side where they weren't supposed to talk about either because the Mothers got all flustered and said it was not to be said out loud.

Aeneas was sure Mana saw that he was absolutely not paying any attention to how her 'bottom' molded to her bottom like a second skin. Instead he focused on the elaborate braids in her long hair as he told her, "Shouldn't be here."

"You need someone to watch behind you."

Now Aeneas noticed the quiver on her back, a full rack of feathered arrows in it. He knew without looking that her treasured longbow would be in her hands, while a pouch full of carefully selected rocks would be strapped to her waist. His sister might go without bow and arrow at times, but never without her trusty sling. He also hated to admit it, but Mana had the sharpest aim of any person in Serenity, even Father had said so.

He finally nodded grudgingly, "Out of sight."

She nodded back, satisfied.

They started off together to intercept without another word.

"I'm your Venus! Oh yeah! Ahh! I'm on fire! Auun! With Desireeee!"

Minako Aino's cries reached a new high note as the buxom blonde's greedy pussy gripped the hard cock she was happily bouncing on so tightly that Ranma felt as if he was in a soft unbreakable vise. He'd decided over the years that as she was the loudest and most vocal of his lovers that it was better for her to do all the talking and for him to just concentrate on what he was doing. It seemed to have worked well so far as he hadn't heard any complaints yet.

"So good, oh yeah-so close-so close-YEEEAAAHH!"

They had started off in a reverse cowgirl but midway through her third climax she'd done a kind of half-spinning twirl while still connected that had gotten face to face and sucked out the first load from his balls as they'd kissed. That had given them a few moments of silence broken only by the wet sounds of their tongues venturing back and forth into each other's mouth. He'd made the most of that time to ensure she was still well lubricated as Minako still had a tendency to rush things as though they'd slip away from her if she wasn't fast enough.

Right now Ranma was quietly working hard towards his third orgasm, he'd lost count of Mina's somewhere around number thirty seven. Making love to the beautiful long haired blonde was like having a string of firecrackers going off, loud and flashy.

"Cum with me, cum with me baby-shoot that load-give it all to me-"

His callused hands reached up to firmly grab her sweaty hips and forced Mina to slow down her frantic pace and match his steady rhythm instead of the wild beat she'd been on. She squirmed and swore at him, trying to get Ranma to go faster instead of this teasing feeling of a bubble building up inside her. Her throbbing clit was just barely rubbing against his form on the end of every down stroke as she gripped his shoulders to keep her balance. The pigtailed man simply smiled slightly at her and kept it slow and steady.

"Ranma?! Damn you! Oh! Oh! *You*! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

He started smacking her firm naked ass with the open palm of one hand. Minako's eyes widened as the stinging sensation seemed to magnify the building pressure inside of her.

"Ranma! Ranma-Ranma! To-ge-ther!"

Now the martial artist finally started to speed up, giving her what they both wanted.

"Yes! Yeesss! YEEEESSSSS!"

For Aino, this orgasm was to the last forty eight what a tsunami was to a light drizzle. It was as if she was flying to the moon and playing among the stars for what seemed to be forever, the feeling of her lover's hot liquid filling her insides somehow part of it and at the same time only an afterthought. The blonde slumped forward, her round breasts resting on her lover's shoulders as he too attempted to recover from that their mutual climax.

Someone knocked loudly on the door of the hut they were in.

The sweaty pair blinked and looked at each other before muttering in unison, "Damnit."

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: As we are, So we go [Episode 195378]

by Ranger of the Crossover Fiancees

"Ako, bring in the next patient."

Ami Mizuno smiled encouragingly at the unnaturally pale young boy being led into her examining room by her equally nervous daughter. The short haired girl had the makings of a good healer, though her aversion to blood was a complication that they hadn't yet managed to find a solution for.

"Hello, Little Bone Swinger."

The native boy looked down at his hairy feet and whimpered.

"It's okay."

Ami smiled gently at him. They'd come so far over these last fifteen years but still the local people of this time could only understand these changes up to a point. Everything after that was the domain of the supernatural to them and the fact that the Senshi had actual magic only made it that much worse. New ways of hunting, cooking, building, speaking and thinking that had taken humanity hundreds of thousands of years of collective development was being put into service here as fast as she and the other Senshi could do so.

The young doctor sighed as she carefully started the examination of her patient. It was so painfully slow, trying to build up the foundations of a working tech base from scratch. So many things were needed before even the most basic of devices were possible. Clay needed kilns to harden, aquifers the hollow bamboo stalks that had somehow been displaced to this region, clothes from plant materials had to be pulled and spun and carded and sewed together and all of that took time. Lots and lots of time, which meant that they needed a surplus of food and water as well as decent shelter first in order to have that kind of free time available.

The people of this time were mostly hunter-gatherers, though strong tribes also raided weaker ones like true savages. The concept of growing plants and domesticating animals was revolutionary, but as Ami and Setsuna knew, also of the utmost necessity. Only deliberate food production would allow the land to support the growing population of the place that they had named Serenity in honor of Usagi's first mother as well as a sign of hope for the future. With the sea only a few hours march away, forests and marshes within relatively easy access by foot and a vast plains populated by tens of millions of herd animals stretched out before them, this was a natural choice for them to settle down in. The hilly area by a winding river offered the two basics they'd needed most at the start. A good defensive position and constant access to fresh water.

She cleaned the area around the rash on the boy's arms with an worn rabbit fur that had been dipped in alcohol distilled from old grain and fruits. Half of the diseases and infections that she saw were things that had been all but exterminated in her time by modern medicine from most of the world.

"Here you go."

Ami looked up to see Hotaru had come up beside her and was holding one of her herbal pastes in a jar carved from a piece of wood. The rich dark grain of the wood contrasted sharply with the pleasant smelling green glob inside of it.

"Thank you," The short blue haired woman said as she took the jar and started to rub it onto the affected area.

Hotaru nodded silently, the tall pale beauty that Mistress Nine had once emulated finally within full bloom. But not, Ami thought sadly as she studied the other woman for a long moment, without cost. The youngest Senshi's weak constitution had always been of concern to the others, Hotaru's body had never been designed to contain the kind of power that it did and they'd all secretly worried how the hardships of this world would affect her. To everyone's surprise, she'd kept on going with that same inner strength that had kept her fighting against Mistress Nine's possession so long ago.

But then she'd finally become a full grown woman and nature had taken its course. The first pregnancy had been a hard one and nobody would have blamed the purple haired young woman if she chose not to risk another. But to the other Senshi's surprise, Hotaru had been determined not to let that fear deny her the life she wanted to lead.

Ami closed her eyes for a moment, feeling those dark memories stirring at the back of her mind. Hotaru's second pregnancy had been a difficult one from the start, they'd had to confine her to bed early on in order to conserve her strength. There had even been a discussion of the unthinkable, to induce a miscarriage rather then risk Hotaru's health any further. Hotaru had refused, her normal soft tone taking on a note of iron finality that had effectively ended any further argument. The birthing had been even worse then they'd feared, so much blood, it still sometimes came to Ami in dreams with her hands drenched in an unending sea of crimson. They'd almost lost mother and daughter both, and would have if not for a combination of Sailor Moon's Moon Healing and desperate CPR by Ranma Saotome.

Ami pressed a dried fruit into Little Bone Swinger's grubby hands and watched him run off to his parent's home, the treat already stuffed into his eager mouth.

Ako came back and indicated that nobody else was coming for now. Ami gave a grateful sigh and sat down on her seat by the piece of wood that served her as a makeshift desk. She watched as her daughter took her own seat and offered the others a snack from the bowl of dried fruits on her desk.

Ako declined but Hotaru helped herself to a slice of dried apple.

"Nodoka's doing well in class."

Ami blinked, surprised by her fellow Senshi's words. She wondered what had brought this up. Hotaru rarely talked about either of her own daughters with the other Senshi, preferring to show her love for them through her actions and what was not said rather then what was.

"She'll make a good librarian with her love of reading. And we could certainly use more like her."

Hotaru smiled happily at Ami's words.

"Negi enjoys reading too."

Realization dawned on Mizuno at last. So this was all about Usagi's little boy...

"Ahhh," she said knowingly, watching the pink grow in her friend's cheeks.

But before they could go any further there was a knock on the outside wall.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Empathy Means Never Having to Say You Didn't Mean It (LIME) [Episode 195428]

by Ranger of the Crossover Fiancees

-Years earlier

"You can't be serious!"

Hotaru Tomoe looked in disbelief at her queen and leader, stunned by what she had just heard.

"Completely."

Usagi's voice rarely took that particular tone, but when she did, people listened. There was something almost unnatural about seeing such a serious expression on that normally absentminded cheerful face, it almost seemed to belong to a different person.

"We almost lost you, Hotaru."

The odango haired woman's voice softened but her expression remained firm with conviction.

"But you didn't. I'm better now-"

Usagi's raised hand cut her off.

"Next time you might not be so lucky. The decision stands, Hotaru. You are not to let Ranma stick his long thingy in your little cubby until we have the technology to ensure your life won't be endangered by having a baby-"

"Or until Ami figures out how to get us on the Pill," Rei Hino said irritably, glaring down at her own protruding middle. She would have to be the one to develop the weirdest cravings for foods that the fiery tempered miko normally would never have looked at twice. At that particular moment her stomach insisted that what she really wanted was a nice thick slice of liver and bananas rolled in dried coconut and ground mustard seed and then fried up in hot oil.

"Ranma!"

The violet haired woman turned desperately towards the young man sitting uncomfortably at the round table they were all gathered around. His look told her that she would find no help from that quarter.

"Sorry, Firefly. Gotta agree with them. I never want to go through a night like that ever again."

Ranma shuddered briefly, remembering the thick iron smell of blood filling his nose and the screams that had seemed like they would never stop. It was going to haunt him for a long time.

"But it's not fair," Hotaru wailed as she saw the figurative writing on the wall.

"All of you get to have him and now I can't!"

"Just because you can't knock the booty in front doesn't mean it's the end of the world, Hotaru."

An uneasy hush descended on the room as everyone else started to stare with growing dread at Minako, waiting for the inevitable mangling of the quote to come.

"Just remember: Stick it in your pooper!"

Ranma fell out of his seat and hit the floor hard.

"MINA," yelled Usagi and Rei, their faces hot and red.

Setsuna seemed to be having a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like hysterical laughter.

Michiru rolled her eyes at the inelegance of it all and turned to make a comment to Haruka...who wasn't there anymore. Looking around for where her lover had gone, the sea haired woman soon located the short haired blonde under the table, where she and Makoto were busy bobbing their heads up and down on the dazed Ranma's exposed groin. The remains of his brown leather pants were on either side of the two women. Shaking her head at the waste of yet another good set of pants, Michiru snuck down to join the fun.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Barbie Girl in a Stone Age World is Definitely *NOT* Fantastic [Episode 195484]

by Ranger of the Crossover Fiancees

-Present, Relatively Speaking

Michiru Kaioh looked down in disgust at her lunch. Plain oat mush and pickles again. The same items that had been on her menu for the last two months. What she really wanted was a nice crisp salad with perhaps some grilled fish on the side but her stomach begged to differ with her. Even thinking about them sent an unsettling twinge of nausea racing up from her middle to her throat. Since there was no way for even her to puke elegantly into a chamber pot, the sea haired beauty stopped torturing herself and took a carved horn spoon to the whitish brown goop before bringing it up to her mouth.

She grimaced. It was coarse and bland, and she had to force herself to keep eating it. The pickles were sour and salty, but at least they had taste and helped her get the rest of it down. She couldn't wait for the morning sickness to pass, if this pregnancy went as the others had then it would only be a few more weeks before it finally stopped and she could go back to a regular diet. She really envied her lover Haruka at times like this, it just wasn't fair!

"Well, I suppose it could be worse," Kaioh admitted honestly to herself.

After all, she could have ended up like Hino. Michiru winced at the thought of having to carry and giving birth to five at the same time. The labor had lasted for most of a day and the fiery tempered woman had been furiously cursing and bellowing threats to the father nonstop throughout the entire process. Poor Ranma had been forced to avoid the raven haired miko for weeks as she attempted to fireball him every time she saw him. By the time they'd finally made up, Rei had soon found herself back in the same state that had started the whole thing in the first place. Only this time, with septuplets.

"And the look on her face was priceless."

Oh yes, Michiru knew, she could have been much worse off then she was.

Managing the primitive manufacturing here wasn't too difficult, the need for baskets and storage containers was never ending for the Tribe, and the thousand and one things that made the households of Serenity not only fit to live in, but let them enjoy staying there as well. Of them all, Michiru had displayed the most talent with weaving, owing to her trained musician's fingers. Like most of the domestic work, the women had to do it as there weren't enough men to spare from the more physically demanding tasks. In principle the Senshi had enshrined the theory of equality between the sexes in Serenity, but that didn't change basic biology or simple physics. The men tended to be better at some things and the women tended to be better at others. Until they had the technology to change that, Mother Nature would dictate the roles they would fill.

A knock at the door was a welcome interruption of her meal.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Goddess of the Harvet and Plants? Give her time. [Episode 195577]

by The Demented Redhead

Looking at the planted saplings, fruit tree cuttings, and nut tree cuttings planted before her, Makoto could only smile at what was soon to become the newest orchard for Serenity. Sure, learning to get by without magic was one thing; especially since it was what had made their former enemies all the weaker when certain powers cut out.

But when you were hungry and needed to make some plants grow quickly without turning the soil into a lifeless pit of sand, magic really was the only way to go. It wasn't the flower shop she had wanted to own, but it was perhaps as big of a plant nursery as she had dreamed.

Nodding at the sights all around her, ensuring none of the newest crop were tilted in any way that might cause harm when they grew, she bent down carefully, and placed her hands in the overturned dirt, and concentrated. Her power was sent out throughout the dirt, coursing into the plants.

When she opened her eyes after a few minutes, slightly winded, she could spy the newly developed orchard, complete with signs that all that remained was for pollination to take effect. "I can't wait for those oranges," she said with a smile.

They had finally been able to do this after waiting nearly a year. It had taken that long to get enough non-pregnant Senshi to power the Sailor Teleport to the needed areas of the world to pick up the cuttings, as well as be ready to defend themselves if they came across a random lost civilization. They had yet to run across one, but it was still better to be safe. And they did need more variety in food sources.

Of course, forcing plants to grow that quickly without depleting the soil did take a lot out of her, even with the training she had been doing the last fifteen years. But the sweet pies she was planning on baking would more than make up for all the trouble.

Slowly, she made her way out of the new orchard, heading back to where she knew the children were playing. While far from the numbers of Rei—thankfully all of her births had been single children and not groups—or those of Haruka—who'd have thought it would have been the formerly tomboy lesbian who couldn't get enough of the male form of the gender-changing martial artist—she did have several children to look after. And while she did want a son at some point with Ranma, she was prepared to wait a while.

Well that and the fact it was a little hard to work on aerial combat of the Saotome School with a baby on board.

"I shouldn't have thought about that," she muttered sadly, stopping underneath a shady Fuji apple tree. Such thoughts tended to remind her of one fact: Ranma was still a normal human at this point, a man in his thirties.

A man ... who would continue to grow and look his age, unlike the Senshi. It was a fact become all the real when the original two wolf cubs they had rescued passed away of old age. Unless they could figure out some way to increase his life span, then he would die at some point long before the Senshi did. Sure, Usagi could probably make him a Senshi or a Kamen of some planet, moon, or star. But could he survive it? Or would it do to his body what Saturn had done to Hotaru?

Well, his training would probably help with that. Hotaru was healthier now since he started working with her. She was able to walk much more without feeling winded, and her activity was definitely higher. They weren't about to let her off the "no male nookie" list for a while though. But it did offer hope that maybe something could be done for said "male nookie" source.

"GWUH!"

"Mommy!"

Shaking herself out of those formerly depressing thoughts—and making a quick mental note to spend some more time with Ranma—she looked towards the path between the trees, spotting her eldest daughter Lita riding on top of the mammoth-sized form of the Elasmotherium named Ryoga.

"I wonder what's got her so excited."

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Fresh Water for Fresh Families [Episode 195582]

by The Demented Redhead

Usagi could only smile as she fed her youngest child, the pink tussle of hair sprouting out from the small wrapping as the newest daughter of Usagi latched on to her mother's nipple for food. She could hear the other children playing in the background, her children and those of Setsuna, as the Time Senshi worked on completing the last well in the area.

It wasn't that the well was immediately needed, no. These wells were being put up for the future. They had no idea how the city's population could change—let alone if Rei would break her vow and decide multiple births were worth Ranma's male form in bed instead of being with Hotaru and working on the 'Ranma-chan' diet. But deepening the wells did make good sense.

Well, as long as those wells were far enough away from the outhouses so they didn't have to worry about contaminated ground water, then she didn't mind the work.

"Man, I'll be glad when we get indoor plumbing," she grumbled, switching nipples so little Kikyo could finish feeding. Sadly, according to Ami and Setsuna, that little 'advancement' looked to be about a century away, at least. And that didn't even include trying to start heating water for hot showers instead of cold bathes in the river.

She would never complain about a clogged toilet or low shower pressure ever again.

She could barely hear Setsuna call her attack anymore, using her temporal attack of her Senshi form to deepen the well, the early scans via the Mercury computer ensuring that the area was free of anything they would need to want to avoid in their water: like arsenic, iron and manganese. When it came to digging, the Senshi found that while they didn't want to rely on using their powers, they did often need to use them to cut down on the needed time to accomplish certain tasks. Sure, the bricks still needed to be laid, but the hard part of digging the hole first was rendered easy.

Of course, she wasn't about to let Ranma use his Hiryü Shöten Ha to water the crops or clear the land if they could help it. Keeping the early cave people from panicking at the sight of a massive tornado was not going to be helpful in the long run. It didn't really help with the 'we are not Gods' ideology they were trying to create.

"Finished," she heard Setsuna claim, as the woman jumped out of the well, her Senshi attire shining bright, before it faded away, leaving her in her usual leather clothing. "Leave it to fill for a while, and we'll have a good source of nice cool drinking water."

Usagi nodded, as she handed off her daughter to her friend. The Senshi transformation at least ensured that when it was dropped, Setsuna wouldn't be covered with dirt and such from blasting the well down further. And it would give Usagi enough time to fix her top.

Setsuna could only smile, her own stomach only showing the barest of hint of the precious cargo it now carried. She was just glad she wasn't cursed like Rei. All her births had been single, minus one pair of twin girls about a decade ago. "I do believe we are done for the day. I got the rest of those bricks laid before the water started to trickle in."

Usagi nodded, finally stuffing her chest back into her top. "Thing seems to get smaller every year."

"That does happen to some women," smirked Setsuna, displaying her own larger assets.

Sticking her tongue out, Usagi took Kikyo back. "I'm just glad this got done before the next heat wave. I thought global warming was only a problem in our time."

"It is," said Setsuna. "But the environment can still produce large heat waves given any particular reason. We should just be lucky no massive geothermal activity has taken place. I would rather not deal with a sudden volcanic eruption at the moment and deal with falling temperatures. We did choose this area for the stable climate."

"Um ... aren't some of those super volcano things going to go off now? I mean they did talk a lot about that in some of our classes," said Usagi, recalling some facts when she had been too wired from caffeine to fall asleep in science class.

"Not for a long time," admitted Setsuna. The closest we might have to worry about is on the Kyushu area of Japan, since they never fully pinned down when they occurred. But we are protected from that for the most part, thanks to heavily diversified food bases."

Usagi just nodded. It still confused her a bit. But it was somewhat comforting to have oranges in the morning before breakfast. Sure, they could have orange juice, but she was happy even to have the choice.

"Mama?"

Usagi turned to see the almost pinkish red hair of her eldest daughter, Ikuko, named after Usagi's own mother. "Yes, dear?"

"Someone's been spotted heading this way."

And with that, the two Senshi began to gather their children.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: Hikawa Daycare Service [Episode 195659]

by The Demented Redhead

Rei Hino was if nothing else, determined to be different from her own father.

She had succeeded for the most part. She was a reluctant politician, usually more involved with settling disputes between members of the cave tribe than international treaties or the usual political bickering her father seemed to prefer over her.

She was a better parent. Most of her eldest five daughters were helping her watch not only their seven sisters by her, but their half-siblings as well. Granted, she wasn't the best of a teacher, usually only subbing by herself when Makoto had to deal with the plants and orchards—or if she was busy having her fun time with Ranma.

Of course, that brought another bout of frustration to her mind. Why was it she was the only Senshi stuck with multiple births? She had had twelve children before Serenity had even grown five years old. Ami's scans hadn't found a reason why she seemed so damn fertile, and the lack of Ranma cleaning out that particular pipe was starting to wear thin, since she wasn't about to take Minako's suggestion for Hotaru and use it.

That was 'exit only', thank you very much. Besides, she'd be tempted to 'alter' the path of impact, and likely end up with nine more children.

She loved them all, don't get her wrong, but not to 'a day or longer in labor' levels.

So she made due, she became a guide for the younger generation, and quite skilled at archery—it helped to have the free time she did. After all, lesbian sex was only good to a point. And she really wanted to lie against his manly chest after a night of some serious lovin', not have her face resting between 'her' soft orbs of flesh. The former jokes of Haruka's had only quit the last few years.

But it wasn't all bad. Ranma did take the time to spend with the children. He was definitely a better father than her own Father, even if his time was limited trying to help the village. He tried to make some time for the children every day, even on days where certain Senshi tried to keep him in their beds, testing their endurances to the limit.

"You okay, Mother?"

Rei shook her head out of those thoughts, including her own endurance test with Ranma. "Yes, Kurenai."

"You looked like you were far away," said the first born of the quintuplets.

Rei just smiled, patting her daughter on her shoulder. "Just thinking a bit about how lucky I am."

"Don't let Motoko hear you say that," said Kurenai quietly, speaking about the last born of the septuplets. "You know she wants a younger brother."

Rei couldn't help but tighten her legs a bit at hearing that request. Why was it that the girls thought having a brother was a 'must-have'?

"Akane?" asked Kurenai, spotting the youngest of the quintuplet sister.

Rei blinked. She was supposed to be out on patrol—or more likely stalking Setsuna's son Aeneas. Why would she be here?

Aeneas was trying to sneak close to the encroaching stranger. So far it had appeared as if he had not noticed his new shadow, but Father had always taught him never to assume the enemy was what you thought they were.

"So do we take him now or wait till Father arrives?" asked Mana, pressing her ... attributes into his back, while whispering into his ear.

He really wished she would stop doing that. Aeneas knew he was going to have to get his brother Negi and insist that Father taught them how he was able to resist it when the Mothers did that to him, considering his sisters had taken to doing it as well. "Not sure," he finally responded. "He doesn't look like the normal trespassers we get."

Mana nodded, glaring at the man who was making a constant march towards the land of Serenity. He had only stopped when he heard the bells of the deer in the background. "We should get a bit closer, but watch him then. Father should be along soon to meet him. And you know how he feels about us taking trespassers on without him."

Both shivered at that; Mana from the yelling she had received for being reckless—though she felt she had done a fair job of defeating that saber-tooth tiger for someone at the age of eight—and Aeneas because of what her attributes did on his back as she shivered.

Oh yes, he really needed to speak to Father soon.

Setsuna's Fault/Time Lost: The War Party [Episode 195982]

by The Demented Redhead

Deer? Deer with bells around their necks?

Mamoru could only stare at that scene before him, even though the herd was so far away. And while he felt no burning desire to walk towards them and figure out if this was an illusion or a sign, he chose to take the latter as fact. Someone was here that didn't belong in this hellish time.

He had long hoped that Usagi had arrived with the other Senshi, hoped that she too had not been stranded alone here in the unforgiving past. The shelter had leant energy to that hope, even if he didn't understand all it might have meant. Was it one Senshi? Who knew how to make that shelter he had found near the campfire? Were there others aside from the Senshi? How long had they been there?

But he had only a piece of ribbon, the shelter, the campfire, and a feeling to lead him to where he was now. The deer were a sign, a sign he had been led correctly to there.

So the question was: what now?

One hut stood in the center of the village, a symbol to all that had been done before. In the early times of the village, it had been the original shelter as the Senshi and Ranma began Serenity. From there, they had planned out what was needed, how to get it, and how to start bringing the primitive humans into a new period of social evolution.

Okay, it wasn't much then, considering other huts were quickly made in the following days because a certain female cavewoman kept trying to 'present' herself as a mate to the one named Sky Eyes. Add to that the fact that the development of deodorant was not an immediate priority and individual homes were developed.

After that, it became a place of meeting, of discussion. It was here that a certain pigtailed man was kindly informed that 'sharing' was the new motto, where Hotaru was told she was on a guy-free diet until her health made a major turnabout, and where a schedule existed to show who's hut that Ranma would be staying at for the day, assuming no major business needed his attention, and after his classes were taught.

And it was now here that once again they all assembled; the knowledge that an intruder was entering their territory causing the usual response.

"One guy?" asked Ranma.

"That's what the scouts say," said Ami, nodding towards the two teen girls who had ran the knowledge from the outer edge of the plains back to Serenity.

Ranma just shrugged. Newcomers weren't that much of a shock to them, as tribes did eventually encounter Serenity. They either tried to steal their food, steal their people, but some did come to be absorbed into the prospering tribe—Big Stick's leadership was not the norm for the time frame, but he wasn't the worst leader that had existed.

Of course, it was always better to prepare for the troublemaker rather than those who wanted to join the new hope of civilization. Ranma just popped his knuckles as he headed towards Ryoga. "I'll go meet the guy before he tries something stupid and gets beaten up by the kids."

"Can I come?" asked Minako with a smile. It had been a while since they'd done it in the open air.

"Not a chance," said Rei.

"I agree," said Michiru. "This may simply be a messenger. If it is, we may need to talk with them."

"I can talk," the blond growled.

Haruka snorted. "Did you already forget what happened the last time we had visitors when it was your day?"

The Senshi of Venus had the decency to blush in embarrassment. "I didn't mean to. Besides, they deserved it."

"Maybe, but we were the ones who had to repair the fields," sighed Makoto.

"Can I go?" asked Hotaru.

"NO!" the remaining Senshi yelled. The last time she had accompanied Ranma like that, he had come running back into the village sans clothes with her chasing him. The formerly quiet and shy girl had become very devious when it came to her desire to have Ranma-kun back in the sack.

That of course also disqualified Rei from 'joining the cavalry'. She may not want to end up with another multiple birth, but she wasn't about to risk it just to tear into some idiots with the IQ of a stone.

"I'll go," said Usagi. "I'm the only one not pregnant or on the list," she said. And while Ami wasn't pregnant, the medic wasn't supposed to ride into battle up front.

"Why does anyone need to go?" asked Ranma, as he helped his daughter by Makoto off Ryoga.

"Gwuh?" bellowed the beast, just wanting to go do something. Like his namesake, he didn't like to be idle for long.

"Because your idea of diplomacy is to see how far you can toss them," said Setsuna with a smile.

"That jerk deserved it for touching me," grumbled Ranma, absently rubbing his chest where one now extinct caveman had managed to tag his girl form with a grope during a battle. It had also led to another rule: Ranma did not engage the enemy as female. Hell, they were still somewhat confused about how the tribe viewed the gender changing martial artist.

They at least knew the other former tribe now viewed Ranma as an angry goddess who laid waste to their tribe. Last they had detected, the group was heading as far west as they could get.

Minako just glared at Usagi. "Fine, but you had better not try and jump the goat on your stud-time."

"Gun, Minako-chan," said Ranma.

"Shotgun!" yelled Usagi, as she leapt towards Ryoga. It had been a while since she had rode, not wanting to risk anything with her pregnancy.

Ranma just shook his head. Really, did they even bother to listen to him anymore?

Time Lost: The Wildfire Rule (DARK) [Episode 196802]

by The Demented Redhead

It was the one rule born of blood in Serenity, the one rule that all knew, and dared not break. It was known simply as the Wildfire Rule.

The Wildfire Rule started when the one known simply as Small Club had bedded the one known as Sky Eyes, defeater of Big Stick. It had been the happiest day of her life, chosen among the consorts of the Goddesses to be with him.

In truth, Ranma had been slightly intoxicated, Makoto's first attempt at a still for both medicinal needs and celebration—an attempt to help the natives lose their fear over the eclipses. For a moment, he believed he was back in Nerima, back with the girl he had killed for.

Little changed the morning after. Granted she was not exactly Akane Tendo, but here, she was good enough.

But then the first problem between the natives and the future humans came to be. Small Club died during child birth, unable to be saved in part due to the exhaustion of Usagi from barely being able to save Hotaru. She had lived only long enough to look at her daughter, give her the name of Wildfire—due in no small part to her red mane of hair, and ask Ranma to watch over her.

He treasured the little girl, the first and only child between the two groups. Setsuna said her very existence was a miracle, given the genetic differences between the two groups of humans, enough that should have made her conception an impossibility. It gave hope to the Senshi that maybe genetic diversity was still a possibility.

Then came Big Stick's attack, rallying many local tribes to attack Serenity, wanting to take the resources for themselves. The fact that he lived long enough for the attack was likely due to the other tribes wanting to ensure his information was correct before they slew him.

They had attacked the fledgling city, Ranma and the Senshi defending as best they could. The very fact that the invading tribe was severely outmatched mattered little, the thirst for power was mirrored in them, some of them embodying the very worst of humanity mixed with animal cruelty.

The future humans had been merely content with scaring the invaders away. It made little sense to kill those tribes, given the fact they made no real threat.

Then Big Stick doomed his allies, he attacked closer to the village, attacked anything he saw that belonged to the one who stole his rightful place as leader of all her surveyed.

He attacked little Wildfire, who was trying to keep him from hurting the other children.

When Ranma caught this, he went into a rage.

The villagers still tell the tale of the God who became like a wild Big Tooth, slashed into the invaders, killing all that stood in his sight, aside from those of Serenity. It was only Wildfire's cries that stopped him from pursuing what remained of the invaders.

If asked, Ranma would only tell the Senshi that her smile was the last thing he remembered. She had said she was going to see her Mother.

She was gone before anyone could heal her.

It had been a rough few months after that; Ranma spending more time securing the village and training the others than socializing, no longer being the carefree youth the others remembered. A man changes a lot, losing people they love; a fact that would not change in the two hundred thousand plus years from this point in humanity.

They were patient, they were caring, and eventually, his spirit returned.

But he would never go back fully to the carefree spirit the Senshi first met many years ago.

It also was the signal of the end of the pairings between the future humans and the primitives. Ami's scans after Wildfire's death confirmed the girl suffered the feared side effect of such a pairing: she was sterile.

For now ... the gene pools would have to stay separate.

And thus the Wildfire Rule was born, as well as the Guard for the lands of Serenity. There would never be another invasion that far into the city again.

Time Lost: Reunion Part 1 (LIME) [Episode 197942]

by The Demented Redhead

"I'm glad I fed Kikyo before this," sighed Usagi, as she leaned back into Ranma's embrace, enjoying the ride to the outskirts of Serenity to confront the lone invader; rides like this were always worse when her breasts were still full. And while a small part of her was hoping this was a person hoping to join their growing community, part of her didn't mind if Ranma blasted the guy.

Seeing him tear into invaders was always hot, and if he did so, her promise to Minako meant nothing. If they were lucky, she might—might—take the time to ensure none of the children on patrol were watching before she jumped the stud.

Not that Minako could complain at the moment. She had made the mistake of coming out of her hut after a round with Ranma. That meant that in all likelihood, the tomboy blond was now 'cleaning' her up. Seriously, it was like Haruka would have been happy to always be connected to Ranma at one point or another.

Of course, she forced herself to stop that train of thought. It always led to being bitter that former lesbians got off easy on pregnancy and giving birth compared to the rest of them.

"I just hope the kids don't do something stupid," said Ranma, his breath tickling her ear.

Part of her hoped she didn't do something stupid either. It may have looked fun, but falling off Ryoga while having sex with Ranma was very painful. Fortunately for her, the only signs of attention he was giving was his focus on the upcoming meeting, his arm hadn't moved once from where it rested on her stomach, steadying her for the ride. It hadn't moved up for a quick feel or down for a quick check.

Damn, Rei's right, I'm getting worse than Minako.

Mamoru had only taken one step in the direction he had wanted to go, the direction his senses had told him that Usagi was in. Since that sense was getting stronger, he had assumed it was because she was finally within his grasp, his mission, his hopes were soon to be answered.

So it was understandable that he was surprised when a smooth stone pelted him in the arm. "YOW!"

"Hold it!" screamed a male voice … in Japanese.

Mamoru could only blink. "Huh?"

"Why do you keep insisting on yelling out warnings in our language?" said the tall and exotic girl beside him, holding a bow, arrow ready to be released at him if she felt inclined to. "How many nomads have we met that understood the context and not the intent?"

"Doesn't hurt to try," muttered the boy.

"Um … excuse me," started Mamoru, hoping to every Kami he could remember that his Japanese hadn't deteriorated from all his time alone. "You speak Japanese?"

The duo could only blink at him, before the girl turned to face the boy. "No one likes a smart-ass, Aeneas."

Snorting a bit, and hoping that such a discovery would keep Father from being upset with him for confronting the stranger, Aeneas ignored his sister. "I am Aeneas and this is my sister Mana. Who are you?"

"I'm … I'm Mamoru Chiba," Mamoru finally said, struggling to hold in his emotions. He wasn't alone! There were others here just like him. And if so, that meant Usagi might be around and safe as well.

"What is your intent here?" asked Mana.

"I … I wanted to find my love," he said. "Do you … know of a girl named Usagi?"

The two stared at him, eyes wide. There were only two girls named Usagi in the village. One was a daughter of Mother Rei, but since she was but a child, it was—hopefully—very doubtfully he meant her.

The other one … was Mother Usagi.

"We do," said Mana.

"Please," said Mamoru, sinking to his knees, "can I see her."

Before they could respond, a loud "Gwuh!" was heard as Father's faithful ride appeared, signaling their approach within seconds.

Aeneas offered a brief look in the direction of the approaching animal, noticing Father as well as the Mother in question fast approaching them. "You're in luck, Outsider, she approaches with Father."

Mamoru felt his heart leap, renewed energy sprang into his body as Earth's power coursed into his tired form, giving him strength to stand. He could barely make her out, trusting more in the more noticeable hair style waving in the breeze as she road what looked like a furry rhino towards him. She was beautiful, a sight his soul cried for.

Well, she was until he noticed the man behind her, holding her by the waist. "You have got to be kidding me."

Time Lost: Not Your Usual Town Hall Meeting (LIME) [Episode 201544]

by The Demented Redhead

As Usagi was about to be reunited with her first flame, the other Senshi had gathered in the Main Hut, a meeting hall of sorts for them. It had been used for many things in the running of Serenity, everything from emergency shelter during the early invasions, planning when and where to teleport to look for new crops, and even the schedule for who got Ranma which night.

"Okay then, let's call this meeting to order," said Rei. "Any immediate issues before we start?" she asked.

"OH GOD YES!" cried Minako.

"Must you two do that here?" grumbled Rei, eyes narrowed as the Senshi of Love was laid out on the table, the Senshi of Sky feasting between her legs.

"I'm surprised Haruka waited until we got inside," sighed Michiru. She could at least offer to share…

Rei just nodded, deciding to ignore the oral sex being performed before them. They knew better than to try and interrupt Haruka when she was feeding. There was a damned good reason she was almost always pregnant: getting between her and her addiction could be dangerous for your sanity.

That was also why they didn't feel any pity for Minako. She should have known better than to show the former confirmed lesbian Ranma's cum dripping down her leg.

"Old business?" asked Rei, trying to force the meeting forward.

Ami stood up, coughing into her hand. "As you know, I've been trying to work on a proper magical structure with which we could impart a Sailor Crystal to Ranma, hopefully without upsetting the chaos matrix of his Jusenkyo Curse, or locking him forever as a female."

"I take it then some new progress came up?" asked Makoto. She like many of her fellow Senshi didn't want to see someone they loved deeply grow old and die. Unlike them, that was the sad fate of Ranma at the moment.

"I was able to isolate enough scanned data to finish up one part," Ami continued. "Usagi's plan was to either try and use Earth's Sailor Crystal or perhaps even Sol itself, but she wanted to ensure we could do it first without creating a major problem."

"Yeah, like no dick for eternity."

"Hotaru!" admonished Michiru. The Senshi of Silence may not have been a little girl anymore, but that didn't lessen the Senshi of Water's motherly instincts towards the purple-haired female.

"Oh, like that wasn't what everyone else was thinking," grumbled Hotaru.

"Anyway," sighed Ami, "I was able to finish the calculations finally for his female form." It was no secret to the others that without the mainframe that had apparently been part of the network supporting the Mercury Computer, the system's abilities to work through problems like this were severely hampered. The whole reason for even starting with Ranma's female form was because it was supposed to be the most difficult: a chaos energy matrix shell that had to be fused with the order-based matrixes inherent in the Senshi form. And given that they had nine Senshi to scan, they stood a better chance of figuring it out first, especially since there were no Kamen to scan to begin building a male matrix for him. "It also gave me a jump towards solving a Sailor form for his male form as well, knocking that to sixty three percent complete."

"Nice," murmured Minako. But whether it was for Ami's announcement or Haruka's tongue was left unknown.

"If luck goes our way, in a year I should be able to begin final debugging of the spell needed to grant him a Sailor Crystal."

"Good, then we can get to the other issues," said Setsuna.

"Issues?" asked Makoto.

"Such as how come Haruka gets pleasant birthings," pointed out Setsuna.

The others turned to said Senshi, quietly grumbling about her luck.

"Not to mention Rei's odd predisposition towards multiple births," Setsuna continued. "And I believe Hotaru is also hoping to have a test to confirm if she's healthy enough to start having regular intercourse with Ranma again."

"Aww," cooed Makoto. "Does Hotaru-chan want Ranma to visit her cubby?"

"Would you guys quit calling it that?" pleaded the embarrassed Saturn. "And yes, I want him in my bed again, male, and with full access."

"You wouldn't have that problem if you didn't keep trying to force the issue otherwise," said Ami. Sure, Hotaru had tried Minako's suggestion, but the girl still tried every trick in the book to get Ranma to stick it in the front entrance.

That was why, like Rei, Hotaru was now stuck on a Ranma-enforced lesbian diet.

"Besides, I just want a quick scan to confirm my training has paid off," said Hotaru. "I've never been in such good shape, so I don't see a repeat of my last pregnancies happening."

"Hotaru, we've been over this," said Michiru, recognizing the beginning of a common argument Hotaru always tried to make during these meetings.

"I know," she groused. "That's why I haven't complained. I know the Mercury Computer is right now focused on getting Ranma a Senshi lifespan. But I still say my health won't slip back if I get pregnant. I mean, none of you ended up fat or sluggish after you finally gave birth."

"She has a point," said Haruka, finally taking her seat, still licking her lips. "Our bodies don't degrade from any activity. Hotaru was always fragile, but Ranma did teach her to control her power. She hasn't fainted once since Ranma took her lesbian."

"And when would you notice this?" asked Michiru, eyes narrowed. She didn't even save me a sip, damn it!

"We train sometimes too," replied Haruka. And it was true, though it was usually in the early months of her pregnancies and usually ended with her riding him on the training ground. Sometimes, such events were how she got pregnant again. "You remember some of those, right Makoto?" she asked with a slightly perverted smile.

The Senshi of Jupiter blushed heavily at those memories.

Further comment was cut off as the Mercury Computer began beeping.

"What is it?" asked a slightly glazed Minako, slowly pulling herself across the table to her seat. "Is it morning already, Mommy?"

"I had a background program running," said Ami, typing rapidly away at her instrument. "It was looking for any magic signatures around us, in case someone from the Sailor Wars or a possible enemy came to Earth that we didn't know about."

"And?" asked Rei. "What did it find?"

Ami paused as the information was displayed. No, that can't be right. But a rescan showed the same results. "Mamoru."

All eyes went wide within the hall, as their world took a new turn.

Time Lost: Mystery Inc.; Scooby, Dooby, Don't! [Episode 212375]

by The Demented Redhead

The group stopped once more, the daylight almost gone, but enough remained to alert them that it was time to set up camp once more. Quickly dismounting the horses they had been riding upon, they set about set duties, duties performed a hundred times before, likely to be performed a hundred times later to, until they reached their goal.

"Any idea how much further?" one asked, her hair cut short, dark brown.

The eldest among them hopped down quickly, pulling out a small cup. "No, once again, no. I can't even take course because I need water for the compass."

"Mercenary girl is too too in hurry to find Airen," smirked one of the girls, starting a fire.

"Of course I'm in a damned hurry," snarled the Mercenary Girl. "I've been trapped in this hellhole for two years, had three broken bones, been chased by dinosaurs, and ridden a horse across Eurasia!

"I might be a bit upset!"

"Calm down, little sister," chimed a calm voice. "Everything will work out."

"I just want to know how Ranchan ended up so far away from us," stated another, looking about for a possible meal, after ensuring the horses wouldn't flee during the night.

Yes, the beauties of the Nerima Wrecking Crew—and one elderly Amazon—into the past. For the last two years, they had made their way from Ancient Japan, across the sea, and through Asia, following a magic totem of Cologne's, towards where they hoped would lead them back to their present.

Sadly, even two extra years of training had yet to teach Shampoo proper language and grammar skills. But Kasumi was certain she'd have Shampoo speaking flawless Japanese in a few more months. There just wasn't enough time to teach when running from dinosaurs, huge beasts, and such. The only odd thing was that there had been no other humans for them to see.

Well, there had been one. But he'd been dead for a long time, the meal of a saber-toothed tiger. All that had remained was his rusted out vehicle, an American Driver's License listing the name 'Hoffa, James Riddle', and enough bones to tell Cologne that three males had been in the group and slaughtered.

"I am going to make Saotome pay for this," Nabiki hissed as she stalked off to look for a source of water, perhaps even fish.

"The arrogant fool still believes my beloved Ranma-sama pulled us into the lost world?" snorted Kodachi, bringing several bundles of wood for the fire pit. They did have to keep it going to keep predators away—unless they felt said predator would make a nice meal or clothes. She did lover her tiger-fur clothes and blanket.

"Doubtful," replied Cologne. "If Son-in-Law was involved, I'd lean more towards him being the target, not the instigator."

"Yeah, yeah," muttered Akane, still upset they never let her cook, even after two years. "Probably Grandfather, we've already talked about this like, a hundred thousand times."

"I'm sorry, Sugar," smirked Ukyo. "You wanna talk about homework?"

Akane snarled, but said nothing. At times, she wondered how Ranma had survived with his father all those years. Perhaps it had been the fact that there was other people to meet and see, while they had only themselves and their horses for company. In a way, they had become friends.

Of course, each of the fiancées suspected that as soon as Ranma was in sight, all bets and friendships were off, despite Cologne pointing out the considering the lack of other humans—alive at least—around, Ranma was perhaps the lone male left on this world.

But despite two years and so many experiences together, she had yet to beat sharing into them. Their journey barely left time for training—which had saved more than a few lives from the natural predators going about, but she was determined to get them to work and yes, even live together after finding Son-in-Law.

Returning with water—thanks to what containers Cologne taught them to make and what was salvageable from the rusted out vehicle, Nabiki sat down, waiting for Cologne to take her readings.

"No river for fish?" asked Cologne.

"It barely counted as a creek," the middle Tendo responded.

The elder nodded. She had been hoping for some fish, but apparently, it was not going to that night.

"Well?" demanded Nabiki.

Cologne just chuckled. "You need patience, Child."

"I need a hot shower, caffeine, and a soft mattress. I'll get that when Saotome gets us home, the sooner I'll get that."

Shaking her head at the girl's continued foolishness, she poured some of the water into the cup, before placing a small crystal she had created earlier in case she ever needed to track down her great-granddaughter's errant husband. As usual, it pointed towards where Ranma was. Taking a quick reading from the position of the sun as it started to set, she closed her eyes, trying to visualize it. "Still a ways off," Cologne muttered.

"How far?"

Removing the crystal, Cologne sipped the water—waste not, want not. "Around the Mediterranean Sea, I believe, assuming this is Earth."

"And why would he be there?" Nabiki asked, glad it at least wasn't in the Americas. Had that been the case, according to Cologne, the crystal would have pointed towards that direction in Japan, not towards Asia.

"That, you'll have to ask him," Cologne replied. "As I've said before since we found the remains of Mr. Hoffa, and the monsters about, something seems to have reached across time and dragged people, items, and beasts here, and not all at once. For all we know, Ranma has been here for decades longer than us. Perhaps he simply started traveling about, trying to find someone, anyone.

"Of course, he could also be the preverbal Adam or Eve that began the human race," the elder joked.

Sighing, Nabiki palmed her face. "I'm going to help look for some food. I don't feel like having twigs and berries for another meal right now."

As she walked away, Kasumi approached the elder. "She is so angry."

"Many are when thrust into events they cannot control and seek redress from," Cologne replied, finishing off the water in the cup. "I do fear that if she keeps holding onto it, it may create more issues should we find Ranma."

"Oh, I'm sure they'll get along just fine," Kasumi offered, hope and honest belief in her voice.

"Well, it would be nice to get one group to work in peace."

"True," Kasumi. "You would think they would understand that unless they want their children to marry their full brothers and sisters, that half-siblings would be less disturbing and thus would be the only other and slightly more preferable option."

"… You scare me at times, Child."

"Oh, why?"

Mamoru just sat on a rock, glad partially for the shade surrounding him of a nearby house, as he stared off into the distance, the occasional bell-rattles from the herd of deer reaching his ears, as well as the occasional word of the villagers.

Five years… For five years, he had struggled for survival, struggled to find the woman he loved, only to discover he had lost her before he had even known it.

She'd already had children with … with him! The part of his soul that was Endymion raged, wanting nothing more than to transform and slay the Casanova for sullying Serenity, let alone the other Senshi.

He rubbed the sides of his forehead, still trying to process all he had learned. It seemed almost wrong for Haruka to be looking like … well, a Fertility Goddess, for little Hotaru to resemble the adult form Mistress 9 had taken, for them to all be mothers…

It was supposed to just be Chibi-Usa, he thought sadly.

Since that chat upon returning to this village called Serenity, he had found himself here, trying to put some meaning to what he had learned.

"Need to talk?"

What he didn't need—in both Endymion's and what was Mamoru Chiba's opinion—was to talk to the gigolo. "Not to you," he spat.

Ranma just stood there, leaning against a small tree in the yard, staring at him. "So you prefer to just sit there, sulking."

"You ruined my life."

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that before," Ranma chuckled. "And like then, it ain't true."

"I was supposed to marry Usagi!" Mamoru growled, standing up.

"No; Princess Serenity was engaged to Prince Endymion," Ranma replied. "They never got a chance, but you two managed to find each other in this life, and tried again. But instead of some jealous bitch, this time you were pulled apart by some damn paradox storm."

"We were destined!"

"The future is never written," Ranma stated harshly. "One thing I learned here, no one is promised a happy ending!"

Rage clouding his better judgment, his power flashed to life, his tattered clothes replaced now with the polished armor of Prince Endymion, sword in hand, and pointed at Ranma. "I will have mine!"

Smirking, Ranma cracked his knuckles. He still wasn't the best with talking to people—his attempt to help Aeneas deal with the feelings his sister was giving him had ended with the time-tested phrase of all dads: "Go ask your mother". But he had always been better at getting his points across the old fashioned way.

"This'll be fun," he smirked, as the two launched themselves at each other.


End file.
